Polly Trottenberg leaves Transportation Commissioner post

[GojiMet86]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/nyregion/polly-trottenberg-resign-nyc.html

 

Quote

 

‘Vision Zero’ Leader Is the Latest to Leave New York Mayor’s Team
The departure of Polly Trottenberg, the New York City transportation commissioner, is likely to signal a raft of departures from the de Blasio administration.

 

 

By Dana Rubinstein
Nov. 23, 2020
Updated 10:25 a.m. ET

 

Polly Trottenberg, a key member of New York City’s leadership team, is leaving her post as transportation commissioner next month, a critical departure for Mayor Bill de Blasio as he grapples with some of the gravest political, economic and managerial challenges New York City has faced in a century.

In her seven-year tenure, Ms. Trottenberg has presided over the mayor’s Vision Zero program to reduce traffic fatalities, populated New York City with speed cameras and lined streets with bike and bus lanes.

She has tangled with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo over subway funding, and tangled behind the scenes with the mayor over street space.

But she has also absorbed countless blows on Mr. de Blasio’s behalf, as transportation advocates have decried the quality of the city’s cycling infrastructure and the mayor’s commitment to street safety.

Ms. Trottenberg’s exit is likely to signal a coming raft of departures as Mr. de Blasio nears the end of his second and last term. In the past three months alone, he has lost his health commissioner — who disagreed with his approach to the pandemic — and his sanitation commissioner, who left office to run for mayor and immediately distanced herself from Mr. de Blasio.

Ms. Trottenberg’s resignation also hints at the extent to which the center of gravity in policy circles is shifting to Washington, D.C., where a new, ostensibly more urban-friendly administration is poised to take office. She is already serving on President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s transportation transition team, and as a former under secretary for transportation in the Obama administration, may be considered a candidate for U.S. transportation secretary.

Her job, like many in city government, has changed during the coronavirus pandemic. Once the keeper of the city’s roadways — which, assembled in a line, would stretch to Iran — she now also manages its miles of street-level, open-air cafes.

She says that in the last year in particular, the mayor has made changes to city streets that have fundamentally shifted the way public space operates in New York City.

“We have now 10,700-plus restaurants on our streets and sidewalks and it took us a matter of weeks,” Ms. Trottenberg said. “In normal times, it would have taken New York City five years to figure out how to do that.”

Early in the pandemic, Mr. de Blasio and Ms. Trottenberg opened some streets to pedestrians as part a pilot program, only to deem the program unworkable and cancel it. Under significant City Council pressure, Mr. de Blasio ultimately reinstated and expanded the initiative. He has since promised to make the program permanent.

Ms. Trottenberg is aware of the criticism aimed at the mayor from transportation advocates as well as from the bevy of would-be successors running next year to replace him.

Long a loyal soldier, Ms. Trottenberg argued that the mayor did not get nearly enough credit for his accomplishments on transportation. She argued that his Vision Zero program to reduce traffic fatalities was a significant, paradigm-shifting accomplishment, one emulated around the country.

Ms. Trottenberg acknowledged in an interview that she and the mayor did not speak or meet “all that often.” She did not deny that she and the mayor were not always on the same page. Last year, he publicly criticized her agency’s plan to curtail traffic around Rockefeller Center during the holiday season. During the pandemic, she suggested his suspension of alternate side parking rules was slowing the expansion of bike lanes.

“I think it is natural with any mayor and commissioner, you’re going to have back and forth on big decisions,” she said.

Ms. Trottenberg’s legacy is bound up with the mayor’s. Her proudest accomplishment — the Vision Zero plan — is also his. She was by Mr. de Blasio’s side in 2014 when he rolled out the signature street safety initiative, which aimed to eliminate traffic deaths by 2024.

Over the years, the administration has made progress toward that goal. The year 2018 was the safest on record for New York City roadways, an accomplishment city officials tie to changes in the way they manage streets.

Progress has not come without some backsliding. It’s hard to find anyone, Ms. Trottenberg included, who thinks the city will achieve zero fatalities by the target year of 2024, as Vision Zero intended. Last year, street fatalities rose, and they may be on track to rise again this year, something Ms. Trottenberg attributes in part to a pandemic-era rise in motorcycle use and reckless driving, as people avoid the subway.

“It’s appearing to be a bit of a national phenomenon,” she said. “This has been a year of emotion and some disorder, and unfortunately that’s played out in a lot of different spheres, including on our roadways.”

Still, the building blocks seem to be in place.

In 2013, New York City won the right to deploy speed cameras near 20 schools. With Ms. Trottenberg’s help, the city won state authorization to deploy thousands of speed cameras in 750 zones that the city said would cover every elementary, middle and high school in the city. While Texas last year banned traffic safety cameras, New York City now has what Ms. Trottenberg says is the largest municipal speed camera program in the country.

In a bid to improve pedestrian safety, New York City also lowered its default speed limit to 25 miles an hour.

Ms. Trottenberg worked with the state’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority to implement the city’s first busway, along 14th Street in Manhattan. More busways are in the works.

And she expanded the city’s network of protected bike lanes from 36 miles to 120 miles, though advocates say the quality of the bike lanes — and the city’s enforcement of them — is lacking.

“We have cars and trucks parked in every single bike lane in the city all the time, even the best-protected ones,” said Jon Orcutt, the communications director at Bike New York and the former policy director at the city’s transportation department. “The protections they’re putting in are weaker than ever. Same with the bus lanes.”

The last year has also brought personal challenges to the job. The agency lost six employees and three contractors to Covid-19. Instead of spearheading new initiatives, Ms. Trottenberg found herself attending Zoom memorial services and trying to run an agency from home.

Still, she suggested that the pandemic had underscored how much she and the mayor managed to accomplish, with the city’s new environment almost redefining the role of the transportation department.

“I would particularly point to this pandemic year,” Ms. Trottenberg said. “At least in the transportation world, the mayor made some pretty extraordinary decisions. I think people don’t necessarily appreciate that.”

 

 

[NBTA]

23 hours ago, GojiMet86 said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/nyregion/polly-trottenberg-resign-nyc.html

 

 

Any possible increase to the speed limit?

Besides that, she did a hell of a job combatting the accidents going on in this city.

[Cait Sith]

1 hour ago, NBTA said:

Any possible increase to the speed limit?

Besides that, she did a hell of a job combatting the accidents going on in this city.

Ehhh...that's debatable.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

On 11/24/2020 at 12:07 PM, NBTA said:

Besides that, she did a hell of a job combatting the accidents going on in this city.

Actually accidents and fatalities have been creeping up, not down recently.

[NBTA]

On 11/24/2020 at 2:06 PM, Cait Sith said:

Ehhh...that's debatable.

 

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Actually accidents and fatalities have been creeping up, not down recently.

This is things I didn't know, haven't been paying much attention, thought it was going down still.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Just now, NBTA said:

 

This is things I didn't know, haven't been paying much attention, thought it was going down still.

Far from.  When you add all of the e-bikes out here now that aren't being regulated, it's a recipe for disaster. There's zero enforcement on that end.  It's a miracle that more people aren't being injured or killed based on what I've been seeing.

[checkmatechamp13]

19 hours ago, NBTA said:

This is things I didn't know, haven't been paying much attention, thought it was going down still.

That's the problem, that there's a lot more to it than "Speed kills" and "Fast = Bad". There's reckless behavior on both sides (for example, bicyclists who run red lights or drive against traffic, pedestrians who jaywalk in clearly dangerous situations, or cross without looking both ways, and then distracted drivers who aren't paying attention and get into accidents, and then the super-aggressive drivers who do last-minute lane changes without signaling. 

[Future ENY OP]

1 hour ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

That's the problem, that there's a lot more to it than "Speed kills" and "Fast = Bad". There's reckless behavior on both sides (for example, bicyclists who run red lights or drive against traffic, pedestrians who jaywalk in clearly dangerous situations, or cross without looking both ways, and then distracted drivers who aren't paying attention and get into accidents, and then the super-aggressive drivers who do last-minute lane changes without signaling. 

Full agreement with this statement. 

[Deucey]

5 hours ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

That's the problem, that there's a lot more to it than "Speed kills" and "Fast = Bad". There's reckless behavior on both sides (for example, bicyclists who run red lights or drive against traffic, pedestrians who jaywalk in clearly dangerous situations, or cross without looking both ways, and then distracted drivers who aren't paying attention and get into accidents, and then the super-aggressive drivers who do last-minute lane changes without signaling. 

The last heavy fog accident in Sacramento on Interstate 5 happened in my rear view mirror.

I'm at the rear of a convoy of folks trying to get to Stockton in the morning. Maybe 1/4-1/6 mile visibility but we're doing 70 in a 70 in a stretch where it's 5 miles between exits. 

We're passing a truck convoy in the slow lane, and a Toyota Prius gets behind me - I just passed it and it jerks behind me like a cabby trying to get a fare on Madison Av. Right when we pass the truck in front, the fog rolls in heavy - we're down to 1/8 mile visibility or worse, the Prius panics, drops to 60.

We all get clear of the convoy, we're staying in the fast lane to avoid conflicts with anyone merging in in the fog (safer that way), and I see the Prius swerving slightly in the fast lane behind me; then high beams flashing behind it. Prius swerves to the right, hits the first truck, then starts the chain reaction wreck.

Point is that it isn't speed that causes wrecks or kills - it's people not paying attention or driving with others' safety in mind. Whether speeding, pedalling a bike, or doing 30 or 55 to save lives, if you don't operate thinking how to avoid hurting others, Vision Zero or any other road safety participation program will never work.

[MHV9218]

8 hours ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

That's the problem, that there's a lot more to it than "Speed kills" and "Fast = Bad". There's reckless behavior on both sides (for example, bicyclists who run red lights or drive against traffic, pedestrians who jaywalk in clearly dangerous situations, or cross without looking both ways, and then distracted drivers who aren't paying attention and get into accidents, and then the super-aggressive drivers who do last-minute lane changes without signaling. 

While I agree with you that there are a lot of nuances to it, there is a specific logic to the lower speed limits, in that a person hit at 25mph has significantly better changes of survival than somebody hit at 30mph. And as for pedestrians jaywalking/bikers running lights, sure, but those are an order of magnitude below bad drivers, who can actually kill people. Maybe one person is killed by a bike every 2-3 years. But there were 121 pedestrian deaths last year due to cars and 28 bikers killed by cars. So the 'both sides' argument is only true to a degree.

[SoSpectacular]

One thing I will always find remarkable is how quickly they got those speed cameras out after that expansion last year.

From my experiences on the road, there is recklessness on all sides. We got drivers going through red lights when lights are too short for traffic flow, Going ahead on delayed greens (unfairly punishes drivers who aren't turning in my opinion) and speeding up to make lights where there aren't any cameras.

On the other hand, we got cyclists who like to go down roads the wrong way, or don't use the specifically-marked bike lanes where they're actually painted because it's out of their way or not where they want to go, and on tight streets where passing them is impossible bringing traffic to a crawl. 

And then there's the pedestrians. Whatever happened to looking both ways before crossing an intersection? Crossing against the light? While it's okay when traffic is light, it's NOT okay when there's active traffic coming down the street 15+ feet from the intersection. Walking in the middle of the street or alongside parked cars is also pretty dangerous, especially with the many narrowed lanes that now exist.

This is definitely not working out.

[Future ENY OP]

1 hour ago, SoSpectacular said:

One thing I will always find remarkable is how quickly they got those speed cameras out after that expansion last year.

From my experiences on the road, there is recklessness on all sides. We got drivers going through red lights when lights are too short for traffic flow, Going ahead on delayed greens (unfairly punishes drivers who aren't turning in my opinion) and speeding up to make lights where there aren't any cameras.

On the other hand, we got cyclists who like to go down roads the wrong way, or don't use the specifically-marked bike lanes where they're actually painted because it's out of their way or not where they want to go, and on tight streets where passing them is impossible bringing traffic to a crawl. 

And then there's the pedestrians. Whatever happened to looking both ways before crossing an intersection? Crossing against the light? While it's okay when traffic is light, it's NOT okay when there's active traffic coming down the street 15+ feet from the intersection. Walking in the middle of the street or alongside parked cars is also pretty dangerous, especially with the many narrowed lanes that now exist.

This is definitely not working out.

I see this a lot in Brooklyn and now there are more excess of camera lights.

[bobtehpanda]

14 hours ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

That's the problem, that there's a lot more to it than "Speed kills" and "Fast = Bad". There's reckless behavior on both sides (for example, bicyclists who run red lights or drive against traffic, pedestrians who jaywalk in clearly dangerous situations, or cross without looking both ways, and then distracted drivers who aren't paying attention and get into accidents, and then the super-aggressive drivers who do last-minute lane changes without signaling. 

The entire ethos is basically; we are all human, and humans make mistakes/practice bad behavior. Lowering speed will generally reduce the severity of the consequences of said actions.

To compare to another controversial traffic management solution, red light cams can increase crashes but reliably decrease deaths, because rear-ends go up but significantly deadlier t-bones go down.

Of course you need three prongs; engineering, education, and enforcement. They probably should not have lowered speeds citywide to 25mph without significant engineering work to make the street actually seem like the limit is 25, and they have redone some roads that were overbuilt but not in any sort of comprehensive fashion. Education is poor because NYS has some of the laxest license requirements. Enforcement is a mixed bag because people hate the cameras but cops do jack shit about traffic violations (and in fact are usually the worst offenders even off-duty.)

[checkmatechamp13]

On 11/26/2020 at 8:16 PM, MHV9218 said:

While I agree with you that there are a lot of nuances to it, there is a specific logic to the lower speed limits, in that a person hit at 25mph has significantly better changes of survival than somebody hit at 30mph. And as for pedestrians jaywalking/bikers running lights, sure, but those are an order of magnitude below bad drivers, who can actually kill people. Maybe one person is killed by a bike every 2-3 years. But there were 121 pedestrian deaths last year due to cars and 28 bikers killed by cars. So the 'both sides' argument is only true to a degree.

Right, and that's my point. How many of those deaths are due to the pedestrian/bicyclist themselves doing something reckless? There was a rally a few months ago where a bicyclist ran a red light (at 1am) and was hit by a bus in Williamsburg. Transportation Alternatives was there and said "Oh look at how people park in the bike lane in that area". That may be true, but that has absolutely nothing to do with that woman's death. 

In another Streetsblog article, they showed a snapshot of a bicyclist before he rode into the path of a right-turning truck, and they complain that the driver wasn't charged criminally. In the picture it looks like the bicyclist is trying to beat the truck to the intersection (and as you know, trucks have huge blind spots). 

Obviously we know that the primary purpose of Vision Zero was for pedestrians/bicylists. Nobody is disputing that. But again, it applies to both sides. Motor vehicle operators shouldn't be reckless with other people's lives but bicyclists/pedestrians shouldn't be reckless with their own lives.

[Deucey]

21 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

Right, and that's my point. How many of those deaths are due to the pedestrian/bicyclist themselves doing something reckless? There was a rally a few months ago where a bicyclist ran a red light (at 1am) and was hit by a bus in Williamsburg. Transportation Alternatives was there and said "Oh look at how people park in the bike lane in that area". That may be true, but that has absolutely nothing to do with that woman's death. 

In another Streetsblog article, they showed a snapshot of a bicyclist before he rode into the path of a right-turning truck, and they complain that the driver wasn't charged criminally. In the picture it looks like the bicyclist is trying to beat the truck to the intersection (and as you know, trucks have huge blind spots). 

Obviously we know that the primary purpose of Vision Zero was for pedestrians/bicylists. Nobody is disputing that. But again, it applies to both sides. Motor vehicle operators shouldn't be reckless with other people's lives but bicyclists/pedestrians shouldn't be reckless with their own lives.

ALL OF THIS!!!

I used to work at 19th/6th. I'd walk from the 18th St on the  over. Everyday, this one bike rider would see the light at 19th/6th turn green for 19th and never stop. Then he'd see me entering the intersection and not stop.

Once he almost hit me and cursed at me. Once he got off the bike and stepped to me to tell me how he felt.

That was a painful conversation for him, in the end - if you catch my drift.

-----

One night I was at that bar right by the Lorimer  stop - the one across from the park (same block as Union Pool). Typical W'burg hipster on a cruiser bike decides the red light for Union Av doesn't matter, and she was riding the wrong way, and got hit by a box truck at ~5-7 mph. She rode away after cursing the driver out.

-----

Every time I got off the ferry during the AM rush, there's always someone on a bike in that bike path that sees ~1500 people walking to State & Whitehall to either walk to BG or to their offices up Water St. And everyday these riders try riding through the throngs instead of stopping for us to pass. 

Few times they've hit someone and kept going.

Then it's regular that there's some rider who sees people walking from BG downtown platforms to the ferry and ride through them - almost hitting people - instead of stopping or even slowing down. And the ones who don't use the bike path get even more mad that pedestrians are "in the way".

Granted, NYPD not enforcing jaywalking ordinances gave us the pedestrian culture we have, and few of us would want to change that.

But I'm not opposed to the idea of riders/cyclists having both enforcement and licensing imposed since they're just blatantly ignoring the whole requirement to obey traffic law - especially when a good number of car vs bike incidents can be attributed to riders/cyclists choosing to ignore the rules of the road. Same with car vs pedestrians since they're trying to cross between parked cars or behind visual obstructions that makes it impossible in many circumstances for drivers to avoid that collision.

[MHV9218]

16 hours ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

Right, and that's my point. How many of those deaths are due to the pedestrian/bicyclist themselves doing something reckless? There was a rally a few months ago where a bicyclist ran a red light (at 1am) and was hit by a bus in Williamsburg. Transportation Alternatives was there and said "Oh look at how people park in the bike lane in that area". That may be true, but that has absolutely nothing to do with that woman's death. 

In another Streetsblog article, they showed a snapshot of a bicyclist before he rode into the path of a right-turning truck, and they complain that the driver wasn't charged criminally. In the picture it looks like the bicyclist is trying to beat the truck to the intersection (and as you know, trucks have huge blind spots). 

Obviously we know that the primary purpose of Vision Zero was for pedestrians/bicylists. Nobody is disputing that. But again, it applies to both sides. Motor vehicle operators shouldn't be reckless with other people's lives but bicyclists/pedestrians shouldn't be reckless with their own lives.

It would be more responsible to use actual statistics rather than anecdotes here.

According to the NYPD's numbers, pedestrian or biker error was cited in less than 5% of fatal accidents last year. These accidents are primarily caused by drivers, point blank. The trope that 'bikers and pedestrians are at fault' has been disproven by police statistics year in and year out.

For what it's worth, I drive in the city. I own a car, and I drive for work. The first six months of the year, I was driving a box truck or converted van 12 hours a day. You see a lot on these streets. I'm aware of the recklessness of bikers and pedestrians. Believe me that I didn't appreciate it driving a commercial vehicle without windows. But I also witness an incredible number of reckless drivers failing to yield or blowing lights on a daily basis. I constantly see cars cut off bikers, people open doors into the bike lane, taxis stop short, texting drivers not paying attention. If we're just doing pure anecdotes, I would say that the worst drivers far and away are Uber/Lyft drivers, who are even more reckless than cabbies since they believe it's their right to stop anywhere on the street. But that's just personal opinion.

[checkmatechamp13]

4 minutes ago, MHV9218 said:

It would be more responsible to use actual statistics rather than anecdotes here.

According to the NYPD's numbers, pedestrian or biker error was cited in less than 5% of fatal accidents last year. These accidents are primarily caused by drivers, point blank. The trope that 'bikers and pedestrians are at fault' has been disproven by police statistics year in and year out.

For what it's worth, I drive in the city. I own a car, and I drive for work. The first six months of the year, I was driving a box truck or converted van 12 hours a day. You see a lot on these streets. I'm aware of the recklessness of bikers and pedestrians. Believe me that I didn't appreciate it driving a commercial vehicle without windows. But I also witness an incredible number of reckless drivers failing to yield or blowing lights on a daily basis. I constantly see cars cut off bikers, people open doors into the bike lane, taxis stop short, texting drivers not paying attention. If we're just doing pure anecdotes, I would say that the worst drivers far and away are Uber/Lyft drivers, who are even more reckless than cabbies since they believe it's their right to stop anywhere on the street. But that's just personal opinion.

Right, and in that same one, it shows about 3% of the accidents were actually caused by unsafe speed (even less than the percentage caused by pedestrian error). And driver inattention is the top cause, followed by failure to yield. 

The other thing is that I doubt in all of those cases, there was only one contributing factor for every single one of those 97 cases. (e.g. Unsafe speed and intoxication. You can maybe assume the person was driving fast because they were intoxicated, but that's not necessarily the case). 

[MHV9218]

10 minutes ago, checkmatechamp13 said:

Right, and in that same one, it shows about 3% of the accidents were actually caused by unsafe speed (even less than the percentage caused by pedestrian error). And driver inattention is the top cause, followed by failure to yield. 

The other thing is that I doubt in all of those cases, there was only one contributing factor for every single one of those 97 cases. (e.g. Unsafe speed and intoxication. You can maybe assume the person was driving fast because they were intoxicated, but that's not necessarily the case). 

Two things about that, though.

For one, small thing, it's very hard to prove unsafe speed without an officer witnessing the accident, which I would imagine depresses those numbers. But mainly, the reason the speed limit was lowered is not about the causes of accidents but the consequences. The relevant stat here is that pedestrian survival rates when hit by a car at 20mph are about 95%. A pedestrian hit by a car at 30mph has a 55% chance of survival. At 40mph, it's about 5%. If you assume drivers travel +5 mph over the limit when the roads are open, a 30mph limit on clear roads yields 35mph traveled speed. Obviously, people rarely get to get that kind of speed in traffic, but that's the DOT's logic. It's not about speed leading to accidents occurring, it's about what speed does when an accident does happen.

[Btw, there are a few different versions of this stat per different studies – some peg the threshold closer to 35mph, some lower.]

Edited November 28, 2020 by MHV9218

[Deucey]

31 minutes ago, MHV9218 said:

Two things about that, though.

For one, small thing, it's very hard to prove unsafe speed without an officer witnessing the accident, which I would imagine depresses those numbers. But mainly, the reason the speed limit was lowered is not about the causes of accidents but the consequences. The relevant stat here is that pedestrian survival rates when hit by a car at 20mph are about 95%. A pedestrian hit by a car at 30mph has a 55% chance of survival. At 40mph, it's about 5%. If you assume drivers travel +5 mph over the limit when the roads are open, a 30mph limit on clear roads yields 35mph traveled speed. Obviously, people rarely get to get that kind of speed in traffic, but that's the DOT's logic. It's not about speed leading to accidents occurring, it's about what speed does when an accident does happen.

[Btw, there are a few different versions of this stat per different studies – some peg the threshold closer to 35mph, some lower.]

But think about how speed or acceleration goes up out of frustration. Here there's a traffic signal on virtually every intersection, and even when coordinated, it's not uncommon for people to get a green at one light then a red at the next one. And the lack of protected left turns leaving folks queued for c. 5 minutes and causing jams back to the preceding intersection.

So it can't just be lowering speed limits to reduce crash-related injuries - there had to be a better and balanced traffic management plan. Maybe it's removing parking spaces in the 50 feet approaching an intersection so turning vehicles can better see who's waiting to cross; or doing like Vegas did along The Strip and creating skyways at the busiest commercial spots in midtown to replace crosswalks (and even more ambitious would be to create them to be blocks-long so cars and pedestrian traffic are grade-separated).

Dunno, but telling everyone to drive 25 definitely isn't enough.

[GojiMet86]

All this talk reminds me of this crappy little turn I spotted earlier this month. This is on Queens Boulevard between 63rd Avenue and 63rd Drive.

On that day, there were two large dumpsters (I want to say construction, but they were a lot bigger) on the striped parking zones. Location-wise, one was in the back of that truck in front of the Forever store (in the image below). The other one was a car ahead of the truck in front of Expo.

Now on the sidewalk next to that truck is a fire hydrant. I parked where that truck is because I was picking someone up. Just enough space for one car.

 

 

 

 

However, there was also a moving truck already parked on the street, next to the first dumpster in front of Chase.

This meant the actual street was getting blocked, so to go around it, cars and buses were going on the bike lane.

 

 

 

On top of that, some livery driver decided to wait for his passenger, but he had the brilliant idea of trying to park behind me......in the hydrant space that could fit ONE car, mine.

So, what wound up happening?

His car stuck out, which had the dual effect of blocking both the regular Queens Blvd street AND the exit.

What did drivers on the street and coming off the exit do?

They went on the bike lane AND on that walking space between the lane and the rest of Queens Blvd.

There were at least 10 cars that were flying through that space, including a USPS truck that almost hit a cyclist, and countless cars that kept crushing those plastic barriers.

 

 

[MHV9218]

4 hours ago, GojiMet86 said:

What did drivers on the street and coming off the exit do?

They went on the bike lane AND on that walking space between the lane and the rest of Queens Blvd.

There were at least 10 cars that were flying through that space, including a USPS truck that almost hit a cyclist, and countless cars that kept crushing those plastic barriers.

Those plastic barriers are just the worst. A biker actually got killed in Queens the other week cause a truck turned and drove over the barriers. They're a joke, the DOT knows they're a joke, and nobody can come up with a good reason why we have them. If it's for firetrucks, BS, the bike lane just replaces a line of parked cars which took up the same width. If it's for street sweepers, also BS, cities all over the country have smaller sweepers for pedestrian and biker paths. Just stubbornness for the sake of it at the DOT, and it makes these lanes such a waste.

[Bill from Maspeth]

Polly is #2 at the US Dept. of Transportation, second in command to Pete Buttigeg.