LAST GASP PART II: Another Bicyclist/Motorist “Incident”

A tipster writes:

…another bikester got doored tonight around 7pm on Nassau and Manhattan.  I just got off the G shuttle coming back from Gpoint Ave and there was already a crowd gathering.  Flipped over onto the back of her head, bleeding profusely and having convulsions.  No helmet. One kind souled guy was holding and talking comfort to her, trying to keep her conscious.  Some folks including myself dialed 911.  911 people have got to be the dumbest fucking people on earth, I swear.  I could overhear all of us five callers going “NO, NOT MANHATTAN – MANHATTAN AVENUE – BROOKLYN – BRRROOOOKKKLLLLYYYNNN.”  One woman had 911 hang up on her.  When the 229 truck, the EMT’s and the 94th showed up, it was a big relief, cuz a few of us were worried that when the convulsions finally stopped it wasn’t going to end pretty.  They got her in a neck collar and then she woke up and started crying and fighting with the EMT’s. Took six of them to hold her steady so they could put her on the board.  They didn’t immediately leave after they loaded her, so I don’t know if that meant something, hope nothing bad.  The 94th got her bike and clutch, sunglasses, etc.  The Chinese guy who’s car door she rode into was fighting with the cops because he wanted to leave.  A few minutes later he almost ran me over talking on the cellphone making the right onto Leonard.  While waiting for the light at McGuinness and Nassau, three fashionably dressed hipsters on bicycles (no helmets either) with fun expensive hats and sunglasses were riding in between moving traffic and thinking yelling snarky things at the cars beeping at them was going to give them special empowerment to not get squashed.

Here’s the deal: inasmuch as I’d like to be “pro-bicycle” I can’t do it. You know why? Because many of them act as bad if not worse than the motorists hereabouts. Given how cabbies drive here and how car services see fit to idle everywhere— including in our bike lanes— this is really saying something. During my sojourns I often feel I am an object of disgust at worst or an inconvenience at best by motorists, bicyclists and skaters (be they on board or otherwise). Why is being a pedestrian so declasse? Why do I feel compelled to defend my right to walk this city’s sidewalks with some peace of mind that I will not be mowed down by something— or someone— on wheels? This should be a given.

I do not want to suggest that this lady cyclist “deserved” what she got. She didn’t. My heartfelt regards go to her family and loved ones. Above all I wish her a full recovery. Rather, I blame an administration which has seen fit to encourage— under the guise of being “green”—  bicyclists to use our roads under the erroneous assumption they’re safe. They’re not. Especially in light of recent service suspensions and cut-backs courtesy of the MTA. Reduced and suspended subway service  = more more vehicular traffic in north Brooklyn: be it cabs, shuttle buses, etc.

Miss Heather