Social Ride for a Safe Ride

Amid increasingly dangerous conditions for bike-riding, cyclists are organizing for safer commutes.

By Katharina Heflik

The Thursday Night Social Ride takes over the streets of Brooklyn.

Sam Fischer was only a block away from his office when an Uber driver tried to squeeze by him and swiped him off his bike on Charlton Street in downtown Manhattan in July 2023. “Right after I hit the ground I was feeling okay,” he remembered. “It wasn’t until hours later, even the next day, until I realized how scraped and bruised I was.” Fischer's bike still wears the marks of the accident.

Like Fischer, Tanya Vázquez was commuting to work in March 2022 when a car hit her in an intersection on 4th Avenue in Brooklyn. “Me and the bike flew up, hit the ground and kept sliding a few feet,” Vázquez said. She was unconscious for a few seconds. Bystanders and other commuters called 911 and helped her get out of the street. Vázquez had to undergo physical therapy and was unable to work for seven months. She still does not have feeling above her left eyebrow.

Fischer and Vázquez are two of ​​286 cyclists that were injured in crashes in New York City since the beginning of 2022, according to numbers provided by NYC Open Data. Last year was the deadliest year for cyclists with 26 fatalities.

Advocates who have been sounding the alarm for years, are ramping up their campaign for safer bike lanes amid the increase in fatalities. Cars and other motorized vehicles pose the biggest danger for cyclists. Whether drivers are speeding, making turns without warnings, trying to squeeze by, like in Fischer’s case, or opening their doors onto a painted bike lane, their recklessness puts cyclists all over the city in harm's way.

Social Rides and cycling clubs aim to create a safe biking-experience as well as reduce the feeling of isolation. Cyclists educate each other in free workshops and organize themselves on Social Media platforms like Instagram and Reddit.

“I was hit by a SUV while I was in the intersection and on bike lane during a green light,” Vázquez shared on a Reddit thread about biking in New York.

The cars, Vázquez says, are her main concern: “They don’t care, they don’t look.” Vázquez wears a reflecting vest for visibility and never rides her bike without her helmet.

Speeding remains one of the main concerns of activists for safe streets. “Sammy’s law,” a bill on speed regulation for motorized vehicles which advocates have supported, was passed on April 25th as a result of biker organization.

Sam Fischer was hit by a car in lower Manhattan in July 2023.

“Sammy’s law” allows New York City to regulate speed limits on its own. The bill was named after Sammy Cohen who was killed by a speeding car when he was 13 years old. Passing “Sammy’s law” is a win for advocates of cyclist and pedestrian safety.

“You can’t deny that speed is a factor,” said lawyer Adam White who has been defending victims of traffic accidents in court for more than 25 years. In White’s free time he teams up with WE Bike NYC, a space for women bikers, and educates commuters on accident prevention and biker legal rights.

Raising fines for drivers who speed is one of many enforcement mechanisms that would make the streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians alike, according to White.

“We need to prioritize safety for those who are walking and cycling on the streets of New York over cars.”

Transportation Alternatives is an NYC-based group that has been advocating for safer streets and car alternatives for more than fifty years.

Painted bike lanes are often blocked by parked cars. At other times doors from parked cars open into the lanes or pedestrians step into them.

On the other hand, protected bike lanes are usually guarded on all sides by a physical barrier: Poles installed by the city, trees, or other greenery. The West Side Highway, for example, a two-way bike path that runs along the west side of Manhattan between the Hudson River and the adjacent highway for cars, is considered a protected bike lane.

Transportation Alternatives Communications Director Alexa Sledge says they demand that all painted bike lanes be turned into protected bike lanes.

With motorized vehicles dominating the city, cyclists are often left to fend for themselves. As a result, they have created communities to share information and advocate for safer streets.

Every Thursday night hundreds of cyclists gather for the “Thursday Night Social Ride” through the Boroughs as part of that effort. The route is posted on Instagram a couple days before the ride. At 7:30 they hit the streets, usually around Columbus Circle, and “mass out,” or fan across the width of a designated Avenue while volunteers block cars at crucial points alongside the route.

The Thursday Night Social Rides give bikers a sense of security that they lack on their regular rides.

On a day to day basis, cyclists can not rely on the awareness of other traffic participants. They have to protect themselves with helmets and tactical riding that keeps them away from car doors that open onto unprotected and painted bike lanes. They have to make themselves noticed and in dangerous situations they always assume that they have not been seen.

And they have to educate themselves for their own safety. To prepare their members and other cyclists for potential disaster, girlsbikenyc – a group of women dedicated to create a gender inclusive space cycling community – hosts workshops.

Cyclists on 8th Avenue and 43rd Street.

Joe Nocella, an experienced Biker, demonstrated how to fix a flat tire for the group on a Saturday in April. Nocella spoke to the 20+ bikers for over an hour, describing how to find a pinhole in a tire, how to pop the wheel out of the frame, and what to do with the chain in the meantime.

“We want this to be fun and enjoyable, we want to keep everyone safe,” said Samantha Way, one of the leaders of girlsbikenyc. She recalled how difficult it was to find a club to ride with people she felt comfortable with. The male-dominated community felt unnecessarily competitive to her.

But Vázquez’ crash from 2022 shows that even constant awareness on their part and a bike lane can not stop cyclists from getting hurt. Vázquez was in a painted bike lane when she was hit. So was Dan Miller, when a car lifted him off the citi bike he rode to work one morning in September 2023 on Northern Boulevard in Queens.

“It wasn’t a fun way to start your morning,” Miller remembered. “I had no major injuries. I was bruised and shaken up,” he said. “Since then I got more into bike activism,” Miller said. He has been writing to his city council members and going to rallies to protest for more safety.

Miller now breaks every time he goes through the intersection had been hit at. “I know I have to be alert.”

Fischer still gets nervous when he hears a motorized vehicle behind him. “Even to this day, when I hear a motor behind me, I shift over a little bit. Even if the plastic barriers are there, I shift over a little bit.”

For those that do not survive, advocates and loved ones on occasion set up Ghostbikes. Bikes completely painted white serve as quiet memorials for the deceased at the spot where an accident occurred. Often the bikes are decorated with flowers or pictures. According to the website of the ghost bike initiative, more than 160 bikes have been installed in New York City since 2005.

Vázquez is certain, if she had not been wearing a helmet that day, things could have been much worse. “You are completely on your own,” she said about commuting on a bike. “No one else pays attention.”