Prospect Park Still Doesn't Want Your Damn Bike Lanes

By Sergio Hernandez Mon., Jan. 24 2011 at 2:03 PM

Categories: Bikes, City Life, Cycling, In the Streets, Sergio Hernandez, Transportation

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Brooklyn Downtown Star

Listen, Prospect Park. The generous, benevolent Department of Transportation has bestowed upon you a big, green bike lane to keep you safe from all of those scary, lycra-clad cyclists. Big Brother (i.e., the city) says it keeps your babies safe and your Subarus dent-free, so stop being so ungrateful and like the damn thing, okay?

According to the Daily News, the DOT is touting some feel-good stats about the controversial bike lane. "Car crashes have fallen 16% since the lane went in last summer -- and crashes that cause injuries are down 63," the News says. "There were 25 crashes from last July to December, down from an average of 29.7 every six months before that."

But certain Prospect Park residents, who hate the bike lane because it's "ugly" and "looks like the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel," think the DOT is skewing the stats. The DOT, for instance, claims that bike ridership went up 190% on weekends, but the Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes is pushing a Freedom of Information Law request for the city's raw data because "they set up their own cameras and saw only half as many bikes as the city claimed."

Yes, that's right. There exists a group that is so zealous about removing this Prospect Park that it installed cameras and counted the number of cyclists they taped. Bike wars. It's serious business, people.

[shernandez@villagevoice.com]

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