Tuesday Night: Demand A Safer Jay Street

Anyone who rides Jay Street regularly to get to and from the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges knows how dangerous it can be for all street users, and how little any of the most common infractions are ticketed or discouraged.  If New York City streets can sometimes feel like the wild wild west, then Jay Street is Dodge City in more ways than one.

Tuesday, February 21st at 7 pm, the Transportation Alternatives Brooklyn Committee will present the NYPD’s 84th Precinct Community Council with the results of the Jay Street Traffic Monitoring study, conducted last October.  They’ll also show the short video, above.

Here’s what volunteers tracked on Jay Street between Willoughby and Johnson Streets during eight weekday rush hours:

…49 drivers parked in the bike lane every hour, 18 parked in the bus stop, and another eighteen made an illegal U-ey.

While 49 may not seem like a huge number, that figure does not account for the amount of time a driver idled on the bike lane for five minutes or more, creating what is essentially a continually blocked bike lane for cyclists.  With an average of 173 cyclists using Jay street every hour, those 49 bike lane blockers are in the minority of street users and should not be prioritized over people riding to work.

The issue isn’t just one between cyclists and motorists.  Blocked bike lanes create plenty of blind spots where pedestrians can not see or be seen as they try to cross the street.  It’s also unsafe for drivers, many of whom have to cross into oncoming traffic to pass a double-parked car, or who can not see a car pulling out from one of the parking garage driveways near Metro Tech and the Marriott hotel.

The 84th Precinct Community Council meeting will take place at the St. James Cathedral Pavilion, at 240 Jay Street, just north of Tillary in Downtown Brooklyn.  Please come and voice your support for a safer commute for everyone who uses Jay Street.  It’s right on your way home, so be there!