New protected bike lane along Bedford Avenue is dangerous for kids, Brooklyn parents say
NEW YORK — Parents in Brooklyn are pleading with the city to reroute a part of a protected bike lane from Flushing to DeKalb Avenue, saying it's putting children in danger.
Videos show children getting hit by cyclists in Bedford Avenue bike lane
Heart-stopping surveillance video from Jan. 7 shows a child getting off a school bus getting hit by a cyclist as he was trying to get to the curb on Bedford Avenue.
Another incident, all too similar, shows nearly the same type of crash in November.
Neighbors say both kids are expected to make a full recovery, but parents in Williamsburg say there's been a steady stream of crashes like these since this portion of the protected bike lane on Bedford Avenue was installed late last year.
"There's many that we didn't document. And many people don't like everyone to see how they fall and get hospitalized and have the ambulance coming down here. Actually, as we speak, an adult, a pedestrian was hit and he's still in the hospital," said Joel Weberman, father to 11 kids.
He and others say they've been reaching out to the Department of Transportation and Councilmember Lincoln Restler for months, but have not gotten a resolution.
"We called almost every number available. We email every email address available," he said. "We are getting like, answers to calm us down, that we are on the issue. 'We will adjust it. We will fix it.'"
Another father, who asked to keep his identity private, says two of his sons were injured the same way.
"Until you figure it out, close this bike lane for a few hours when the smallest, most vulnerable children go on and off the bus," he said.
Williamsburg Parents want bike lane temporarily closed to protect kids
That father is working with a group called "Williamsburg Parents" who say they've been sounding the alarm about this since before the street change was made.
Williamsburg Parents echo a similar solution, asking the council member to temporarily close the bike lane during school bus hours.
"This measure would protect vulnerable children in our community, similar to the accommodations made for adult pedestrians in North Williamsburg (OpenStreets). We hope that Council Member Restler will extend the same advocacy to safeguard our children as he has for adult pedestrians in North Williamsburg," the group advocated in a statement to CBS News New York reporter Hannah Kliger.
There was a regular bike lane here for years, but neighbors say they noticed the problems began when the Department of Transportation turned it into a protected bike lane.
Residents say the stretch of four blocks along Bedford Avenue has around 1,500 kids, one of the highest concentrations of children in the city. As a more permanent solution, they are proposing to move the protected lane to a less congested part of the neighborhood along Classon Avenue.
Williamsburg Parents say Restler's office rejected the proposal.
A statement from Restler's spokesperson reads, in part: "Our community's safety is of paramount importance and my office has worked with DOT and neighbors to make design adjustments to ensure the safety of all, such as dedicated loading zones for school buses, rumble strips, increased signage, and a narrowed lane to slow down cyclists."
A spokesperson for NYC DOT added, in part, "..Designs like this have proven to improve safety for pedestrians, drivers, and cyclists where they've been installed across the city."
DOT added that motor vehicles are behind the vast majority of pedestrian injuries. A response the concerned father says is inadequate.
"This is not a question if a traffic lane is more safe than a bike lane ... Look where the children were injured. These children were injured in the last three months on this new bike lane. Don't compare it to any other danger. This is a danger by itself that has not been addressed. And every day you are ignoring this issue, you are putting vulnerable children at risk of getting injured," he said.
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