Recent letters discussing the city's anti-automobile bias

[BrooklynBus]

http://www.qchron.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/awful-bike-lanes-i/article_b94f20e1-f8b3-5b62-ab4b-2de0c573f543.html

 

http://www.qchron.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/awful-bike-lanes-ii/article_e51ebcde-5590-5a85-8509-e0c8a35f42ca.html

 

http://www.qchron.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/rules-for-revenue/article_bb5b4c33-ec39-5d00-92d2-069376b8465c.html

[peacemak3r]

Either my job-site blocked connections to that website or that website just doesn't work.

[R10 2952]

I'm glad somebody brought up the issue of jaywalking non-enforcement and the deliberate tactics by the city to push people out of their cars and onto an already-overcrowded transit system.  Aside from the reluctance to reactivate the Rockaway Branch for subways, there are several developments over the years that have really set off alarm bells in my mind.  These include:

-Bloomberg's asinine pedestrian plazas

-Closing off the Central and Prospect Park roadways

-Too many bike lanes

-Deliberate mistiming of signals

 

In the long term, these initiatives will overtax the transit system and bring about a level of gridlock unlike anything we've ever seen.  I did not vote for these clowns; I've always tried to vote for independents or those who are at least reasonable in their policies.  The more people start voting the same, the sooner we can remove these politicians from office.  Otherwise, we should just vote with our feet and get the hell out of here.

[BrooklynBus]

Either my job-site blocked connections to that website or that website just doesn't work.

The links were out for most of the day but are working again now.

[peacemak3r]

I've tried the links at home and they've worked and I totally agree. Most of these new initiatives hurt traffic rather help it. Also, I'm not against dedicated bus lanes or using mass transportation, to me it all boils down to convenience. Sometimes it's easier for me to drive to my destination rather mass transportation and vice versa. But with poor services and even more congestion, at this point, making either decision is a hard one.

 

Finally, yes, please crack down on the pedestrians. A lot of people on this forum say this is a pedestrian city; fine, follow your damn laws then. Penalize everyone rather then just penalizing drivers. For some time, I try to avoid jay-walking just for my own safety. I can actually say that I wait for that light to change and walk to the crosswalk instead of just blatantly crossing the middle. Common sense guys. 

[Joel Up Front]

I've always called NYCDOT the "Department of Bicycles and Pedestrians" for their recent "initiatives" in the past decade.  I don't see how Vision Zero and bike lanes are supposed to make anything better.  I didn't see that many fewer cars on the road when gas was $4.00 a gallon and the speed limit was still 30, so what good are all these plazas and punishing drivers?

[Interested Rider]

Please, please, please crack down on the pedestrians who walk around in never-never land not looking where they are walking and are more interested in their electronic devices when crossing the street. These lovers of the electronic gizmos apparently have not learned how to behave  on the street and I am not surprised that more of them have not gotten hurt walking into traffic while looking at their gizmo. The bicycle riders are just as bad as they ignore lights or pedal on the sidewalk where they don't belong. As far as the  plazas are concerned, on the rare occasions I venture into Manhattan, I find them beyond being useless as who wants to sit out there and breathe the pollution while eating or talking?

  

I do not drive but I understand how tough it is to drive in this city with this "Vision zero" for pedestrians which is something that exists in the la la land of those who forget that things happen.  This is not to say that all drivers are perfect as just like lovers of gizmos are not either. There are motorists who are the best argument for cameras in each intersection when they run lights, block crosswalks and do other stupid things and they are the ones that have the "vision zero clowns" coming out of the woodwork asking for more (usually unnecessary) laws and regulations when what they did lands up as front page news..   

[peacemak3r]

Agreed, I also am not saying that all drivers are perfect. I totally despise drivers who text & drive. Also because of everything from careless pedestrians and fraud, I have two dash cams while I drive. One in plain sight and one slightly hidden; for my own protection.

[Interested Rider]

Peacemak3r you are doing the right thing by trying to protect yourself and good drivers who do not text and follow the rules of the road should do the same thing. 

Just to show you how dishonest this "vision zero for pedestrians" theory comes across in the real world, think of it as a license to jaywalk and dare the motorist to hit him/her. It is one of those ideas that the paper pushers who live on another planet came up with these ideas that never can be achieved in the real world. Yet these geniuses always find a politician who runs with it to the mainstream media and they do not check on whether the idea is feasible in the first place. The theory gains support and it is implemented even if it totally impractical. Just ask the present police commissioner, William Bratton as he said the same thing today.

As far as the New York City Department of Transportation is concerned, I consider them as a group with a hidden agenda and that is the reason that I consider them totally irrelevant. After all, just look at some of the persons who have held the job as commissioner  or is holding it and look at the other positions they are presently holding!

[N6 Limited]

I'm glad somebody brought up the issue of jaywalking non-enforcement and the deliberate tactics by the city to push people out of their cars and onto an already-overcrowded transit system.  Aside from the reluctance to reactivate the Rockaway Branch for subways, there are several developments over the years that have really set off alarm bells in my mind.  These include:

-Bloomberg's asinine pedestrian plazas

-Closing off the Central and Prospect Park roadways

-Too many bike lanes

-Deliberate mistiming of signals

 

In the long term, these initiatives will overtax the transit system and bring about a level of gridlock unlike anything we've ever seen.  I did not vote for these clowns; I've always tried to vote for independents or those who are at least reasonable in their policies.  The more people start voting the same, the sooner we can remove these politicians from office.  Otherwise, we should just vote with our feet and get the hell out of here.

I agree about the deliberate mistiming of signals (very lame),  however I like the pedestrian plazas and the bike lanes.

[peacemak3r]

@Interested Rider

 

Yeah, I feel that a lot of the pedestrians try to take FULL advantage of this and just try to cheat a law suit anywhere possible. 

[Interested Rider]

It is about time that the city cracked down on the pedestrians who with the things in their ears are totally oblivious to everything going on around them. There are sidewalks where there is room for just one person to walk and while I let a person walking in the opposite direction go first, these zombies who are behind me think nothing of not letting the other person through as they are too busy to get off their electronic brain. It is like "we" the law abiding people have to move out of their way whether it is pedestrians or the automobile. How many times have I screamed at these zombies when they are on the sidewalks or walking across the street in my neighborhood and they look at me as though I am from outer space or curse me for interrupting their "very important" conversation about nothing.

What disturbs me is that once the law suits start coming in whether it is tripping over a sidewalk or crossing the street and the legal community sees it as a cash cow, watch out as even though these zombies had their face in their electronic device, the building owner and the driver will be held liable anyway. 

The bicycle nuts are no better as they too now have the things in their ears when they ride on the sidewalk or in the road. There should be a crackdown on them as  as they are just as guilty as the pedestrian zombies when it comes to road or the sidewalk. .