Advocates Renew Push For Protected Bike Lane After E-Bike Crash In Bed-Stuy

BED-STUY, NY — Cyclists in Brooklyn face a risky commute, but advocates say improvements to key lanes, including Lafayette Avenue, could make the streets safer.

Safe streets advocates renewed their push this week for a two-way protected bike lane along Lafayette Avenue after an early-morning crash left an e-bike rider in critical condition on Monday, police said.

Transportation Alternatives described the intersection of Lafayette and Bedford Avenues in Bedford-Stuyvesant as “deadly” and urged the city to expand and improve existing protected bike lanes.

“We’re heartbroken to hear that yet another New Yorker is in the hospital after being hit by a driver on one of our city’s most notorious unsafe streets,” said Ben Furnas, executive director at Transportation Alternatives.

Just last year, a pedestrian was killed at this same intersection in a hit-and-run crash. The street’s design — Lafayette suddenly widening from one travel lane to two at Classon Avenue — encourages speeding and unsafe passing rather than safety.

The organization’s Brooklyn Activist Committee has been leading the “Clinton Hill Safe Streets” campaign since 2021, when 3-month-old Apolline Mong-Guillemin was killed by a reckless driver in Clinton Hill, officials said. A central goal of the campaign is the installation of protected bike lanes along Lafayette and DeKalb Avenues.

Currently, both streets have unprotected, paint-only bike lanes, and the Lafayette lane ends just before the Bedford Avenue intersection, the site of Monday’s e-bike crash.

“This is exactly the type of crash and injury we fight to prevent every day. We can’t wait any longer for protected bike lanes on DeKalb and Lafayette avenues,” Furnas said. “These streets are deadly. How many New Yorkers have to be hit and killed or seriously injured for us to see change?”

The unidentified e-bike rider was rushed to Kings County Hospital, according to police. It was not clear on Monday morning whether the driver would face charges in connection with the crash.

As it stands, Lafayette Avenue is a dangerous street — more than 300 people, most of them drivers, have been injured in crashes along the boulevard since 2015, according to city data. City officials often point to evidence that adding protected bike lanes can help prevent crashes by slowing vehicle speeds and narrowing traffic lanes.

"Let this be the last crash on Lafayette Avenue, the last hospitalization, the last serious injury. New Yorkers deserve better, and we’re going to fight every day until better is here," Furnas said.