Mayor Bloomberg talks endlessly of getting guns off city streets, but what about crazed bicyclists? If ever there were an urban scourge, they are surely it.
But now, as The Post has reported, there’s hope: City Hall is moving ahead with plans, finally, to crack down on bikers, particularly the delivery guys who think they own both the streets and the sidewalks — and who put the lives of unsuspecting New Yorkers in deep peril.
With Team Bloomberg’s nonstop promotion of cycling — its miles of new bike lanes and its plan to put 10,000 rental bikes on the street starting next year (or whenever) — there’s never been a greater need for serious bike-law enforcement.
But if the city launches a meaningful crackdown (a huge “if”), New Yorkers soon, finally, might be able to venture out on the streets without fear that some two-wheeled cruise missile packing Chinese takeout will run them down.
As The Post’s Jennifer Fermino reported, officials held a, uh, crash course in bike safety last week, one of many the Transportation Department is hosting in advance of its plan, starting in January, to enforce long-ignored rules for commercial bikers.
Some 200 restaurant owners and deliverymen learned that it’s against the law to ride on sidewalks. And bikes need brakes.
Obvious stuff? Sure — but also universally flouted: “I can’t tell you how often [bikers] say, ‘I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed on the sidewalk,’ ” said DOT Assistant Commissioner Kim Wiley-Schwartz.
Fine. Let’s hope this is a final warning.
Trouble is, the crackdown will include only violations like riding a bike with faulty brakes or lights, not traffic infractions, like running red lights. The city says the NYPD has already boosted enforcement of those laws, yet the problem seems far from cured.
Plus, DOT is planning to send out only six inspectors. That hardly seems enough.
Reckless bikers have been ravaging New Yorkers for ages. Businesses employ cyclists “who think this is the Wild Wild West,” that they can “run around with impunity,” says City Councilman Jimmy Vacca. “We have to do something — fast.”
The city tallied 754 crashes between bikes and motor vehicles and 27 involving pedestrians in just one three-month period last year. (And many crashes go unreported.)
Bloomberg’s pro-bike campaign makes heightened enforcement ever more dire.
Unless officials are serious about cracking down, an evening stroll may soon become more risky than ever — and guns will have nothing to do with it.