SOMEONE’S CHILD WILL GET KILLED ON THIS NEW BIKE LANE. 

INSTEAD OF SENDING CONDOLENCES TO THE PARENTS AFTER THE FUNERAL, YOU CAN STILL PREVENT IT FROM HAPPENING NOW

Dear Mr. Ydanis Rodriguez, DOT Commissioner 

cc: Mr. Lincoln Restler, Council Member 

We, the residents of your district, are writing to demand the immediate reversal of the newly implemented bike lane on Bedford Avenue between Dekalb and Flushing. This bike lane directly endangers the lives of 1,500 small children who board and exit school buses daily on these five blocks.

Bike lanes are intended for adults, while school buses are for children. We cannot sacrifice the lives of our vulnerable children to protect adult bikers.

The bike lane has always been a danger to our children, but this new change has turned a danger into an imminent one. Previously, the bike lane was located adjacent to the traffic lane where the school buses stopped, allowing both bus drivers and bikers to see each other clearly. This setup gave bus drivers the ability to observe oncoming bike traffic, and bikers could at least see the bus stop signs, ensuring that some bikers stopped ("some... Not all...). Now, with the bike lane moved to the far side, next to the sidewalk, bikers can no longer see the bus stop signs, and bus drivers can no longer see the bikers

While biker safety is important, we cannot prioritize it at the expense of our children’s safety. The current bike lane places 1500 kids at risk as they go on and off their school buses, which pick them up and drop them off daily. In just the first two days of its implementation, countless parents reported near-miss incidents involving their children being nearly struck by bikers who failed to stop at the bus stop signs.

We cannot wait for a tragedy to happen to make changes; we need to act now to save innocent children’s lives.

We urge you to take swift action:

STOP THE BEDFORD BIKE LANE CHANGE NOW!!!!

and work on other solutions to reroute the bike lane to a less populated street where there are not hundreds of children waiting for buses. Our children's safety must come first, and a solution that separates bikers from our young pedestrians is URGENT.

LETS NOT FOOL ANYONE: We know THERE IS NO EFFECTIVE WAY TO ENFORCE that BIKERS should follow rules so our children are kept safe.

Let’s be clear: the only real solution is to immediately reroute the bike lane off Bedford Avenue along these four blocks where so many children are at risk. This is not an unreasonable proposal—there are existing laws in NYC that protect children around schools, precisely because of the large number of children in those areas. The same should be true here, where 1,500 children are at risk in such a densely populated area.

The Mothers and Fathers stand united in this concern, and we ask for your immediate attention and action to protect our children’s lives.

Sincerely,

Devastated Parents of Bedford Ave

P.S. There is currently no accountability for bikers, and some are using high-speed bikes. This poses a serious risk to pedestrians, potentially leading to fatalities.
Some of these high-speed bikes should be banned, just like guns. They are dangerous weapons. By allowing a bike lane on streets where our children are getting on and off the bus, you are exposing them to deadly hazards. We urge you to reroute the protected bike lane to another street—one without over 1,500children boarding and exiting buses daily.

UPDATE FRIDAY NOV 14:

In an attempt to respond to the countless near deadly accidents, the DOT has installed some “No Standing” signs, pretending that this will somehow protect our children’s safety.

Our response to this is: You know that these parking rules didn’t protect cyclists from double-parked commercial vehicles, so don’t pretend that you believe those commercial vehicles will suddenly follow the ‘No Standing’ rules.

IF THE “NO STANDING” RULE WAS NOT SAFE ENOUGH FOR BIKERS ITS CERTAINLY NOT SAFE ENOUGH FOR CHILDREN

We need a solution that truly addresses the problem, which is why we proposed a change to reroute the bike lane for just those four blocks of Bedford Ave, as shown in the picture below.