In recent years, the number of bicycle accidents in the Bronx has skyrocketed, from 291 in 2009 to 457 in 2018. The COVID pandemic has not slowed the pace of cyclists killed or injured in the Bronx, with several months in 2020 setting five-year accident records—June, July, August, and September all logged about twice the number of Bronx bike crashes than in the previous half-decade.
This despite dedicated bike paths, the Bronx Greenway, and on-street bike lanes. Some say those Bronx amenities are not enough, and blame inadequate biking infrastructure.
Without discounting the need for better and safer bike paths, we feel that negligent motorists cause the majority of Bronx bicycle accidents. They carelessly zip through intersections, change lanes, turn, open doors, and otherwise drive as if they are not sharing the road with far more vulnerable people on vehicles that offer a fraction of the protection of a car or truck.
If this happened to you or someone you know, the following provides information about what to do next. If you’re in a Bronx bicycle club, advocacy group, or a teacher who wants to help students learn their rights as bikers, please feel free to copy and distribute it to anyone it might help. (If you post it online, please link back to this page.)
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