Survey Says...

Last fall the City's Department of City Planning (DCP) conducted the most comprehensive and widely distributed survey of NYC cyclists to date. Eight thousand surveys were distributed and about 1,400 were returned. DCP is using the survey results to help direct the focus of two DCP studies, Making Streets Safer for Cycling and The Bicycle Parking Needs Study.

Here are some tidbits from the studies and the survey:

• Percentage of city cyclists who have been in an accident while riding in traffic: 52.8%
• Percentage of cyclists who have been doored at least once: 32%
• Percentage of cyclists who have been in a traffic accident and have filed a police report: 13%
• Most requested cycling improvement: a comprehensive network of bike lanes
• Average time cyclists had been bike commuting: 7.1 years
• Average bike commute distance: 6.2 miles
• Average bike commute duration: 34.4 minutes
• Top three reasons for not bike commuting: no safe place to store bicycle, no shower/change facilities at work, fear of motorists.
• Named greatest threat to cyclists' safety in traffic: taxi cab drivers
• Year of first NYPD Uniformed Bicycle Patrols: 1992 at the 24th Precinct
• Year every Precinct, Task Force, the Traffic Control Division and the Housing Bureau got bike patrols: 1997
• Number of NYPD "officially" marked bicycles citywide: 1,700
• Number of summons issued by the Bike Patrol in 1998 (Jan - Oct.): 10,674
• Percentage of bike patrol tickets issued in 1998 to cyclists or to motor vehicles in bicycle lanes: 43.2%
• Percentage of bike patrol cycling-related tickets issued in 1998 issued to cyclists: 74.7%
• Percentage of bike patrol cycling-related tickets issued in 1998 issued to motorists in bicycle lanes: 25.3%

Check out our next issue for a more in-depth look at the survey results - with a focus on what T.A. members said.