They said Citi Bike would bring “total carnage” to the streets.
We were warned that bike share in New York would be “hell on wheels.”
“Experts” told us that “It’s, like, super dangerous to ride a bike in the city.”
But so far, not a single bike share user has been killed in New York between Citi Bike’s May 27 launch through the end of September, further corroborating the notion that as far as Citi Bikes are concerned, there’s safety in numbers.
Meanwhile, 47 motorists and 10 passengers were killed in New York City during the same time period. That’s more than six times the number of people killed participating in mixed martial arts in the last 20 years — and that’s not even legal in New York.
There is going to be a criticism below, but first, this is very good news that this vital alternative mode of transportation has made it safer for bicyclists because we non-bicyclists have to be much more careful. This extra care is a good thing for cars and jaywalking pedestrians to do, but not really a great thing for those of us pedestrians whose lives are made just a tad more tough because we have to factor in more bicyclists that: ride on the sidewalk, salmon the wrong way on the streets, go through red lights and stop signs (treating pedestrians as moving objects that won’t be alarmed when a bike is aimed right at them), can’t hear them because of headphones on both ears and just plainly are as empowered to misbehave as the drivers who honk their horns when tied up in traffic.
[…] Citi Bike’s success — Citi Bike has proven to be the nation’s – if not the world’s – most successful bike share program by multiple metrics, and those who predicted total carnage in the streets have been proven wrong. […]
[…] and has had an impeccable safety record – especially compared to what some naysayers had predicted prior to the bike share system’s […]