DIY Bike Lanes Are Actually Pretty Effective
- Image via NYC Bike Maps
On the off-chance the city hasn’t yet added in bike lanes exactly where you want them, just painting some in yourself seems to work pretty well. At least, that’s the takeaway from this Times write-up of Right of Way, a group responsible for spray painting in new bike lanes in midtown over the weekend, extending lanes on Avenue of the Americas from their endpoint at 42nd street all the way up to Central Park.
“We’re doing something for the public good,” one of the group’s founders told the paper. “So I think it’s O.K., even if it’s illegal.” And other than a lone driver who took took the time on Saturday night to yell at the group (“You know what you’re doing is wrong.” Burn!), no one really seems all that bothered by the lanes, which were partly inspired by the incident in the area last month in which a taxi veered onto the sidewalk during a dispute with a cyclist, severing the leg of a tourist.
As of Sunday afternoon, the lanes were still in place, and were being used by some cyclists, and flagrantly ignored by some drivers. Just like the official ones.
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.