Credit: Metro File Photo
The city’s bike share program has proven to be safer than some New Yorkers anticipated, with zero deaths being reported since the blue bikes hit the streets more than five months ago.
About two dozen injuries have been reported, but most of them have been minor, The New York Times reports. After five million trips, no Citi Bike riders have been killed.
In fact, there have been fewer cyclist deaths overall in the city this year than last year.
Between January and October of 2012, 18 cyclists were killed in car crashes, according to the city’s Department of Transportation. This year, 10 cyclists have been killed so far in car crashes. Cyclist injuries, however, have remained consistent.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said that the increase in bike ridership has led city drivers to be more aware of the cyclists around them.
Advocates, like Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives, tend to agree that more bicyclists on city streets have changed some drivers’ behaviors.
“People just expect to see them around every corner and around every turn,” he told the Times.
Many New Yorkers, including City Comptroller John Liu, had serious concerns about the bike share program because of the lack of a helmet requirement in the city. Cyclists over the age of 13 are not required by law to wear one.
Liu told the Times that he still believes helmets should be mandatory and that the good news out of the program’s first five months does not “obviate the need for safety measures.”
