Transportation
Do New Yorkers Really Need to Be Told How to Use Bike Lanes?
According to this cheeky movie by the city's Bike Ambassadors, yes, yes they do.
New York has had dedicated pathways for bicycles since 1894, when the first bike lane in the country opened on Ocean Parkway. Even back then there was a strong local biking community: More than 60 competitive-racing "wheelman clubs" attended the debut of the new path, which was patrolled by police on wheels who enforced a strict (and nowadays laughable) speed limit of 12 m.p.h.
More than a century later, you'd think that New Yorkers had learned how to use bike lanes. But you'd be wrong: They're still making dumb, inconsiderate mistakes like riding against the flow of traffic and busting through red lights, according to a group of cycling activists called the Bicycle Ambassadors.