Tag Archives: New York

Motordom and the Mohawk Trail

Relentless promotion, political and business manipulation by “motordom” (follow the money…) have been held largely responsible for the triumph of motoring in  the USA in the early 20th Century. Peter Norton’s book Fighting Traffic is the best-known work making this … Continue reading

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Doored in Union Square

https://danconnor.com/posts/541542fd45b74d6952000001/on_the_video_in_which_i_am_doored_by_a_taxi (Note: the video is no longer online but a screen clip is on another page.) I see a lot of people who comment here discussing fault. Fault and crash prevention are not the same. I’ll take crash prevention any … Continue reading

Posted in Bicycling, Bike lanes, New York City, Sidepaths | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Brooklyn Bridge air horn blast

The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the engineering wonders of the world, opened in 1883 and is still in full service. (Highly recommended: David McCullough’s book The Great Bridge…) Traffic on the roadways when the bridge opened consisted of horseback riders, … Continue reading

Posted in Bicycling, New York City, shared space | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

NYPD confiscates e-bikes.

This post is in response to an article by New York City reporter Vince Barone about the city’s police department confiscating electrically-assisted bicycles. The article is here. I also sent the comments below to Mr. Barone in an e-mail. Vince … Continue reading

Posted in Bicycling, Equipment, New York City | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Manufacturing traffic jams on Grand Street, Manhattan

Someone has watched my video of Grand Street, in Manhattan, and commented: John, I watched the Grand Street video (which was kind of fun) but I couldn’t help but notice you are passing a lot of cars, which makes your … Continue reading

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Green Wave, Checkered Flag?

I am writing this post in response to comments by Mighk Wilson and Khalil Spencer on another post on this blog. They discussed the difficulty of cycling in a city with synchronized traffic signals (a “green wave”) set to a … Continue reading

Posted in Bicycling, New York City, Sidepaths, Traffic Signals | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Guest posting by John Schubert: New York, City of Confrontation

Responding to an article in the New York Times, a correspondent asked John Schubert Why isn’t NYC concerned about being sued because of lousy bike-lane- design-caused wrecks? and he replied: Good question. I think it’s important to know the answer … Continue reading

Posted in Bicycle facilities, Bicycling, Cycle tracks, New York City, Sidepaths, Sidepaths | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Gridlock Sam’s magic powers!

New York’s former Traffic Commissioner and Chief Traffic Engineer, Sam Schwartz, “Gridlock Sam,” who describes himself as a “traffic guru”, has posted a Web page [updated and expanded since my original posting, apparently deleted sometime after October, 2014 but available … Continue reading

Posted in Bicycling, Bike lanes, New York City | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Livable Streets proposal lacks credibility

I’m looking at a GOOD magazine/Streetsblog proposal for a “livable street” [As of 2019, the page is available in the Internet Archive, but it requires a Javascript that is not available. This page on Streetsblog NYC appears to show the … Continue reading

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Technical and legal issues with the NYC 9th Avenue bikeway

If bicyclists traveling on the bikeway in the intended direction (same as motor traffic on 9th Avenue) merge into the left-turn lane to the right of the bikeway, they interact only with left-turning motor vehicles. Then the bicyclists can proceed for as much of the signal cycle as through-traveling motorists, and left-turning bicyclists can proceed for longer than left-turning motorists. The equal or longer, possible time for bicyclists to proceed is unusual and interesting. Continue reading

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