Two Nutty Vids Show Just How Dangerous It Is to Bike in NYC
- Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:17pm by
Billy Hallowell
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In most cities and towns, following the traffic rules is pretty simple. Pedestrians walk when the signs tell them to and they stop and go when driving as directed by easy-to-comprehend light signals. But, in New York City, some people don’t listen to the rules and they ignore the regulations. The result? Commuter chaos.
New York is, no doubt, known for its zany cab drivers, horrendous traffic and overcrowded streets. But, with pedestrians, delivery trucks, taxis, bike riders, motorcyclists, and the like all competing for the same road space, just how dangerous is it, say, to cross the road? We‘ll let you see for yourself in this unique video that shows just one of NYC’s busy streets:
With so much going on, it’s tough for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers, alike, to always abide by those good old rules that are so simple to follow in less densely-populated areas.
Take, for instance, Casey Neistat, a NYC-based filmmaker who was recently ticketed $50 by the New York Police Department for not cycling in the bike lane. Naturally, Neistat took to his camera to film the entire debacle for entertainment’s sake.
In the short film, he explains why it’s not always safe (or even possible) to ride in the bike lane. Watch as he hilariously illustrates how various hurdles (cones, people — even police cars) can be dangerous barriers for bicyclists:
Lesson: When you commute in New York City, regardless of the transportation mode you use, you may be taking your life into your own hands.
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Comments (77)
Hephzibah
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 4:49pmI see these obnoxious, egomaniac bike riders running red lights and stop signs and breaking other laws more often than not. Must make them feel really powerful and holier-than-thou to see how many cars they can get backed up behind them. I know some riders might be respectful and considerate, but apparently there aren’t many of them around here.
Report Post »NathanM
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 4:48pmThat first one was a show of how close you can come without actually crashing – talk about efficiency. Sure, a few were idiots and not paying attention but just because you come close to someone doesn’t mean it was dangerous. Fun to watch though – the second one was well produced and funny to watch and I’d be willing to bet all of the crashes on vehicles were pre-approved :).
Report Post »willbedone
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 4:19pmthy do
they don’t pay fuel / road taxes
Report Post »Conkuur
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 4:04pmThey gotta pay NY’s huge debt somehow. Think of it as helping your state :::smirks:::
Report Post »Mr. John Sauls
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:56pmThis is why I live in a Texas small town.
Report Post »nomercy63
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:52pmclogged roads, people walking everywhere, businesses operating hummmmmm great place for a bike ride!!!! take your little bike to a park like all the other little kids!! Morons!!!!!
Report Post »dakotachuck
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 4:01pmBikes are both pleasurable and an effective means of commuting.
Report Post »nelan72
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:44pmCan you imagine what it would be like if all NYCidiots drove.
Report Post »Don Equis
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:31pmReminds me of Paperboy meets the classic GTA.
Report Post »wordweaver
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:29pmSecond one was fabulous – very clever and well-produced. He is very good at taking a fall. If he isn’t a stuntman, maybe he should be.
Report Post »harumph
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:46pmSure looked like he clipped his shins on his ride over the handlebars in the truck stunt. It was well done and on point. I especially liked the last collision, which was poetic. He’ll probably be charged for the body work for that now, tho.
Report Post »NathanM
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 4:50pmHe might have, of all of them the back of the truck was the most poorly executed. You could see him jump off of his bike as it crashed.
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:29pmI needed a good laugh…no common sense, sure but he has got a point though.
Report Post »Marine4ever
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:16pmHow about we just get rid of bike lanes? What a waste of money.
Report Post »Non-regulator
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:36pmRIght on
Here’s a 3 million dollar bike lane you can not use to get in a cars way. (the number of millions is arbitrary)
Report Post »dakotachuck
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:57pmAgreed….allow full use of lane.
Report Post »beatsbias
Posted on June 10, 2011 at 9:16amas a nyc resident, i bike to work all the time. it’s cheap, keeps me in shape, and does not pollute. the bike lanes are dangerous because pedestrians stand in them, cars double park in them, and cabs pull into them. don’t even get me started on the potholes. if the government invests in a project like this, they should enforce the laws to make that project work correctly. that includes ticketing people who obstruct the bike lane! or perhaps a friendly warning and some more street signs would suffice.
Report Post »Drum Man
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:13pmI laughed pretty hard at that!
Report Post »capecodsully
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:06pmI used to drive large commercial vehicles in NYC, I lost count how many times a bicyclist would pass me on the right (in my blind spot) when I was in the middle of a right turn. What a bunch of dumb a**es. Are there only four deaths a day? I find that hard to believe.
Report Post »harumph
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:03pmI thoroughly enjoyed this. Good luck getting his 50 back, tho.
Report Post »This_Individual
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:57pmHilarious!
Report Post »UBETHECHANGE
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:56pmTypical lib city and lib lack of common sense: Lets ticket the bikers and not the vehicles blocking and illegal parked in the bike lanes.
OMG.
Report Post »TrueLiberal
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:53pmI’m not sure of the laws in NY but here in OK a bicycle has the same standing and responsibilities on the road as a car or motorcycle. Why is a person not allowed to ride their bike in the traffic lane just like a car?
Report Post »Genuine question.
TXGRINDERMASTER
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:51pmThe streets will have even more obstacles. I think the guy just needs glasses or he’s just not too bright.
Report Post »acejoker
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:46pmThere are many bicycle accidents each year in San Diego. Most are the fault
Report Post »of the cyclist. As a bike rider I am amazed that so few know the laws of the
road. Bicycles are vehicles subject to the same rules as autos.
ENTITLEMENTSBLOW
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:45pmKind of funny, but that guy might get into some trouble if he damaged those vehicles he ran into on purpose.
Report Post »thinkinghuman
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 8:20pmPretty brave to crash into the cop car, but poetic justice at the coppers who enforce stoopid laws just to make money for the city. There is nothing wrong with a bike riding in a regular lane. Happens all the time in California and elsewhere.
Report Post »NuffSaid
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:39pmIs this guy a taxpayer? Wonder why he thinks they call it a bike lane.
Typical liberal. They want it all but “it all” ain;t enough.
They should raise the quota from 4-a-day to 8-a-day.
Report Post »busterpuddles
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:38pmOnly one of the growing list of reasons I live in Texas… but then there’s the illegal alien problem…
Report Post »dancermommd
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:35pmI saw a lot of people and bikes not following the lights and put themselves in danger. Hard to feel sympathy for them if they do that. When it‘s a red light that doesn’t mean a biker gets to go through the intersection and then scream about the cars going with their green light.
Report Post »sof32
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:32pmHere’s a thought. Try dismounting and walking your bike around an obstacle. I know it sucks. But cars have to stop and wait for things and so do pedestrians. This guy needs to realize that the world doesn’t revolve around him.
Report Post »Bob_R_OathKeeper
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:21pmTry dismounting Obama, you might learn a thing or two.
Report Post »Atomicstorm
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:10pmActually, if you are forcing people to bicycle in the bike lane, then it should be just as important not to obstruct it just as you would a fire lane. ESPECIALLY, if your entire goal for the lanes is to improve air quality and city congestion. Obstructing a bike lane is no different than parking in a handicap space when you shouldn’t. In both cases, you are taking up space for something it was not meant for.
Report Post »MASTER YODA
Posted on June 10, 2011 at 11:03amThe simple solution is for the pedestrians to carry sticks and jam them into the spokes of the bikes that come too close to them. Herh herh herh.
Report Post »TruthTalker
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:20pmThis dude has no common sense.
Report Post »American Saint
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:28pmFor all the people who will now start posting that this isn’t news, just stop clicking on the link and telling us. I rather read this than wait an hour for another Weiner story. Entertainment is not a bad thing.
Report Post »American Saint
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:33pmBut it is hilarious!
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:38pmI loved both videos! They made me laugh. *sigh* Time to check my other weiner..er..news sites for the day.
Report Post »SKOALBROTHER {GALLEY OF CATFISH}
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 2:50pmI love Sarah Palin.
Sarah is the finest woman in the land, sexy, smart and feminine with a light-hearted, “WTF” demeanor and the ability to make cash money fall right out of a storm cloud.
She makes all other women in the entire world seem to look like hags.
Sarah is the Bomb.
She is THE national treasure who makes all strong men drool for freedomness.
Report Post »Professional Infidel
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:02pmain’t like this in Idaho!!
Report Post »Professional Infidel
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:03pmSKOHLBROTHER, Yea, arm in arm with you.
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:07pmBoo hoo. I got a ticket for not controlling my vehicle on ice, around a curve, during a snowstorm, and it was a LOT more than $50. I just paid it and life goes on. I didn’t make a video about how unfair it was and drive my Jeep into snow banks. Life sucks sometimes, you just gotta go with it and make the best of it.
Report Post »paperpushermj
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:32pmIn NYC are bicyclists exempt from normal traffic laws, I ask because he video clearly shows them running red lights?
Report Post »Dale
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:40pmAnonymous;
While the rider obviously ran into various bike lane obstacles (I get the point), he probably paid close to what you did when he tallies bike repairs.
Report Post »twangurdead
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:47pmi like it, he has common sense enough to make humor about dangerous biking; anyone would have avoided it in a normal situation but i like the way he was trying to make a point
Report Post »Independent American
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 3:51pmThis is a good example of why it’s against the law for siblings and even cousins to marry.
Report Post »Bloody Sam
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 4:01pmIt would be very easy for a cyclist to navigate the streets of NYC…if they would slow down and use their brains instead of bombing around like the ******** in the vid.
Report Post »TXMD
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 4:02pmAnythng befalling the peole in these videos only serves to improve the gene pool
Report Post »Jediusetheforce
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 4:03pmYou can have NYC it sucks all around.
Report Post »BuckOfama
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 4:33pmWhen first glancing the headline I thought this was another weiner story……
Report Post »notsofast
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 5:03pmI loved both these videos, they are not only interesting, and entertaining, but educational and extremely well made.
And…..it is so nice to see something different that the Wiener media mantra.
Report Post »nzkiwi
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:31pmThat was hilarious. And true.
Report Post »Ookspay
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 9:11pmWhere I come from we call bicyclists organ donors.
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on June 10, 2011 at 1:04amthat’s the best…
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on June 10, 2011 at 1:05amBoo hoo. I got a ticket for not controlling my vehicle on ice, around a curve, during a snowstorm, and it was a LOT more than $50. I just paid it and life goes on. I didn’t make a video about how unfair it was and drive my Jeep into snow banks. Life sucks sometimes, you just gotta go with it and make the best of it.
ah the ol “shut up and do as you’re told” mentality. love it…
Report Post »smallstuff7
Posted on June 11, 2011 at 12:53pmCyclists are permitted half of the available pavement in NYC. Motorists don’t know that and exhibit much rage at cautious cyclists who need more space, so as to avoid car doors that open suddenly. Car doors have become lethal weapons to cyclists. Bike lanes are very dangerous when located alongside parked cars. The only way to navigate safely is to ride directly on the line far enough away from vehicle doors. I bike every day and believe the police are friendly toward cautious cyclists but will nail the speeders who give rest of us a bad rep. Once, a motorist caused me to stop abruptly as he proceeded to make an illegal right turn at a red light. I “let” him go, but a police car nearby gave chase to the motorist. That felt really good and I raised my hand to salute the chase.
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