New Proposal to Prevent Bicycle Accidents on Fifth Ave in New York

Forever and always bicyclists travelling on Fifth Avenue in New York have had to deal with speeding traffic, weaving in and out of double parked cars and other safety issues as well. Surely anyone can understand how dangerous this can be, but until now there were no special precautions, or actions put in place to protect these New York bicyclists, until recently when the NY DOT has finally given a great deal of attention to the safety issues at hand.  

The New York DOT has now set forth a plan to upgrade and install a protected bicycle lane as a safety measure to protect bicyclists travelling along Fifth Avenue, between 23rd Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. Over the years, statistics have revealed that Fifth Avenue is home to far more bicycle traffic than any of the other Manhattan avenues. However, the current bike lane on Fifth Avenue between 23rd Street and 8th Avenue is always compromised by double parked cars which ultimately causes bicyclists to have to combat heavy traffic in their efforts to get around it. By engaging in these compromising acts, bicyclists find themselves exposed to tremendous risks of being hit by a moving vehicle. Pedestrians also find themselves victim to these same risks.

With that said, it makes perfect sense that there is an extreme need for the recently proposed bike lane to protect bicyclists. The primary objective of the newly proposed project is to better protect bicyclists from the many bicycle accidents that have occurred over the years, and continue to occur today on Fifth Avenue. The proposal gives primary focus to preventing bicycle accidents and will also contribute to a decreased number of pedestrian accidents as well.

With the flipping of the bike lane and the parking lane, the DOT also proposes that two split phase signals be installed along with the installation of painted concrete pedestrian islands as well. Further, the DOT has included in their proposal a request to add both loading and unloading areas which would most assuredly avoid double parking altogether.

The proposal was well received and fully endorsed and will be presented later in the month, with voting completion anticipated to take place by the 23rd of this month at the Scholastic Building on Broadway. In years past, both bicyclists and pedestrian representatives have petitioned the improvement of overall street safety on Fifth Avenue suggesting a completely new redesign and a thorough remodeling of both Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Today the DOT has finally set forth a new proposal to prevent bicycle accidents on Fifth Ave in New York and provide for the safety of both bicyclists and pedestrians alike.

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