Late last month, Suffolk County (NY) Legislator Thomas Barraga responded to a letter from a constituent whose mother, Sandy Heins Cutrone, suffered a broken shoulder and head and neck injuries after being struck by a car while bicycling in West Islip.

Barraga’s response, which essentially said “don’t ride a bike in Suffolk County,” has received a fair deal of media attention in the last 24 hours. His response is an unfortunate turn of events. Tri-State has met with Barraga in the past to discuss pedestrian safety in Suffolk County, and believe it or not, Barraga was named a “Winner” last October for writing a letter to the County’s Department of Public Works urging them to conduct a traffic safety study on County Road 13 after a pedestrian and cyclist were killed within one week of each other.

So instead of joining in on the pummeling, we’d like to offer a rebuttal to some of the Legislator’s statements, as well as ideas that he can pursue to make cycling and walking safer in his district of West Islip and Suffolk County as a whole.

Dear Mr. Cutrone,

Thank you for your recent letter concerning bicycle safety and bicycle lanes. Let me at the outset express the hope that your mother will have a complete recovery from her accident in September while riding a bicycle in West Islip.

I have lived in West Islip most of my life and my personal feeling is that no one who lives in our hamlet or for that matter in Suffolk County should ever ride a bicycle or a motorcycle. I cannot tell you how many constitituents over the years have told me that they are taking up bicycling for pleasure and exercise. I have hold them not to do so but they usually do not listen — 90 percent of those people eventually were hit by an automobile many like your mother with serious physical injuries.

If Barraga has had “many constituents over the years” telling him they want to bike more, then there’s clearly a demand for better bicycle infrastructure in Suffolk County. So instead of telling constituents that cycling will get them killed, he should be using the influence of his position to make cycling in Suffolk County safer and easier.

I have heard the suggestion of bicycle lanes and additional signage but unfortunately this would do little to solve the problem.

False. Bike lanes do, in fact, improve safety conditions, and not just for cyclists. While bike lanes can help cut the risk of injuries and crashes, they can also increase bicyclist comfort and confidence on busy streets and provide a visual reminder to motorists that bicyclists have the right to use the road. Bike lanes can make streets safer for other users by visually narrowing “motor vehicle travel lanes to encourage lower motor vehicle speeds.”

Suffolk County is a suburban automobile community — drivers expect to see other drivers on the road not bicyclists and motorcyclists. Even in those areas outside of Suffolk County where a portion of the road is for bicyclists – they still get hit by motorists[…] Signage has limited effects — there are currently 135 signs between Montauk Highway and Sunrise Highway on Higbie Lane and Udall Road — most of the are ignored by drivers. Reality at a time can be difficult for some to come to grips with but giving false hope would be inappropriate.

Barraga is absolutely correct in asserting that Suffolk County has dangerous roads for pedestrians and cyclists. In fact, Newsday found in 2011 that Long Island roads are the most dangerous in the metro region for cyclists. What’s “inappropriate” is for him to throw his hands up and say nothing can be done. In fact, Barraga can do many things to help ensure that Suffolk County’s transportation infrastructure works for all of its users. Here are a few ideas:

• Introduce an amendment to the County’s Capital Program to create a Complete Streets Implementation Fund that can help build the safe cycling infrastructure that could have prevented the crash that injured Ms. Cutrone. Doing so would move Suffolk County’s Complete Streets policy — which was adopted in December of 2012 with the support of Legislator Barraga — from theory into practice.
• Direct Suffolk County’s Department of Public Works to improve its road design manual so it incorporates the most up to date traffic calming and bicycle infrastructure designs in its toolbox, including designs in the National Association of City Transportation Officials Urban Street Design Guide.
• Direct the Suffolk County Police Department to map and identify high crash locations on Suffolk County roadways.
• Advocate for a dedicated line item for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects in Governor Cuomo’s Executive Budget.

Given local advocacy efforts for safer roads in Suffolk County — and the outcry generated from the Legislator’s blaming of Ms. Cutrone for getting hurt — there is clearly demand for increasing safe transportation options on Long Island. The Legislator would be wise to revisit his comments and instead take positive steps towards re-engineering Suffolk County’s roadways so that pedestrian and cyclist injuries and fatalities become a thing of the past.