Who Uses Bike Lanes?

In my fantasy version of how this whole bike lane saga ends Iris Weinshall, Norman Steisel and Louise Hainline have to meet kids like the little boy, above, and explain to him why he shouldn’t be able to bike to soccer practice in a class I, protected bike lane.  As tears well up in the boy’s eyes, they all realize the error of their ways and drop their lawsuit.  Then Marty Markowitz takes them all out for pizza, Jim Walden founds an all pro bono law firm, and Chuck Schumer reigns in Wall Street.

Since none of that is going to happen, I suggest you check out this beautiful set of pictures from the thirty minutes photographer Dmitry Gudkov spent on Prospect Park West on Sunday to see the reality of the Prospect Park West Bike lane.  The kids and families you’ll see in Dmitry’s pictures are the people who’ll bear the brunt of the Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes lawsuit if it succeeds.

I took a few pictures of my own, and while they’re less artful than Dmitry’s, they hopefully show why this bike lane and others like it are necessary.

Because I have both a daughter and a seat for her on the back of my bike, I’m partial to pictures of parents who have the same setup:

If you’re able to take your kid northbound on a southbound street without having to do it on the sidewalk — thanks to a two-way bike lane — then I’d say the street is pretty darn safe:

This dad was so cool with his kid riding in the bike lane that he was able to ride ahead of him, not worried about his son getting rear ended by a car that couldn’t see him.  The kid even slowed down for a pedestrian, pictured, but the guy waved him through.

There’s a growing group of these pictures at Flickr.  Please join and add your pictures.