Cyclists Could Get Head Start At Thousands Of NYC Intersections

NEW YORK — Cyclists could get head starts alongside pedestrians at thousands of intersections across New York City. The city Department of Transportation wants to let bikers follow pedestrian signals instead of traffic lights at intersections with so-called leading pedestrian intervals, which let walkers start crossing the street before cars can.

The DOT tested the idea last year at 50 intersections in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. That seven-month pilot program indicated that head starts for cyclists improved safety, as crossings where they were implemented saw fewer injuries than similar intersections without them, according to a DOT report outlining the program's results.

The report recommended extending the courtesy to cyclists at head-start intersections across the city — and Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration is supporting a City Council bill to do just that. There are nearly 3,500 crossings with leading pedestrian intervals, accounting for about a quarter of all city intersections with traffic signals.

"This study shows that we have another tool in the Vision Zero toolbox to make cycling in our city safer than ever," de Blasio spokesman Seth Stein said in a statement. He added that City Hall looks forward to working with Councilman Carlos Menchaca, the bill's sponsor, "to pass his legislation and make this a reality."

The law currently requires cyclists to obey traffic lights just like drivers. But many bikers already run red lights when the coast is clear, as the DOT's study showed. AMNewYork published a copy of the report Tuesday evening.

Department staff observed 301 cyclists hitting red lights at intersections before the pilot program began and saw 80 percent of them follow the head-start pedestrian signal, while just 4 percent waited for a green light, according to the DOT report.

The DOT says that leading pedestrian intervals have helped make intersections safer for walkers. Giving cyclists head starts could similarly improve safety for them without harming pedestrians, as bikes account for less than half a percent of pedestrian fatalities, the study says.

Statistics from the pilot program, which ran from April to October 2018, bear out that idea. The DOT recorded 55 traffic injuries at crossings where cyclists got head starts, compared with 72 injuries at 50 similar intersections that the department used as a control group.

And the head-start crossings also saw roughly 20 fewer injuries during the study period than the average for the same time frame over the previous three years, the report shows.

"Council Member Menchaca recognized that people on bicycles were already using these same (leading pedestrian intervals) to proceed safely through intersections, and this pilot has now made it clear that these head starts offer the same safe and effective protection for cyclists, too," Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said in a statement.

Menchaca, a Brooklyn Democrat, first proposed allowing cyclists to follow leading pedestrian intervals in 2016. While City Hall now supports the idea, the DOT's report says that the department should be able to pick certain intersections where cyclists should not get head starts.

Menchaca's more recent bill on the issue has not gotten a hearing since it was introduced in February. But Council Speaker Corey Johnson said the idea "sounds good" to him.

"Everything goes through the legislative process, so I don’t want to prejudge it, but it’s in line with breaking the car culture, it’s in line with making our streets safer, it’s in line with moving towards a more pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly city," Johnson, a Democrat, said Wednesday.