More than one-third of folks driving motorized two-wheeleers on the Big Apple’s protected bike lanes and greenways pace dangerously, an evaluation by The Post discovered.
Although town final week revved up its crackdown on harmful driving by working pace cameras around the clock, bike lanes stay extreme security hazards flooded with scofflaws on e-bikes, mopeds and bikes that consistently disobey the 25-mph pace restrict.
Over the previous week, a group of Post journalists used a radar gun to trace speeders on paths crossing the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queensboro bridges, in addition to bike lanes in Midtown and at Hudson River Park.
Of the 486 two-wheelers clocked, 167 – or 34% — sped above the 25 mph max, together with some as excessive as 35 mph. They embrace dust bikes, all-terrain automobiles and others outlawed on metropolis streets and bike lanes.
The want for pace was particularly noticeable on the Williamsburg Bridge the place 44 – or 59% — of 74 motor bikes utilizing its pathway over an hour-long interval Friday went over 25 mph.
The Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge’s lanes have been additionally stuffed with speeders. Over an hour, 37% and 30% of its bikers have been additionally caught, respectively, speeding by the reporter and photographer.
On the Queensboro Bridge, 18% of the 87 motorized bikers clocked went over 25 mph – however, not like the opposite East River crossings, its bike lane is shared with pedestrians who have been compelled to dodge dust bikes and different rogue rides.
![Dept of Transportation installing speed camera, located across street from P.S. 28 in the Bronx.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/speed-cameras.jpg?w=1024)
On Thursday afternoon, The Post arrange close to Stuyvesant High School on Chambers Street for an hour and clocked 33 – or 43% — of 77 motorized bikes zipping alongside the Hudson River Park bike path over the pace restrict.
New Yorkers stated they’re fed up with bike-lane lawbreakers.
“It’s a huge problem!” barked Peter Epstein, an avid 60-year-old bicyclist after pedaling alongside the scenic bike lane on Manhattan’s West Side. “People are walking by” as a result of they’ve “the green light to cross the path, and these [motor] bikes are zooming right up to them; there’s not even time for anyone to react. It’s just crazy.”
![Mopeds on the bike paths on the 59th Street Bridge.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/speeding-bikes-3-copy.jpg?w=1024)
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine final week proposed changing half of the adjoining West Side Highway right into a two-way protected bike lane in order that electrical bikes and different authorized motorized bikes can use it. He declined to reply to questions on unlawful bikes probably utilizing his proposed pathway or The Post’s findings.
Motorized bikes usually are not allowed at Hudson River Park, which is run by a state-city entity, nor on any bike lanes on metropolis parkland.
However, enforcement by the NYPD and metropolis parks enforcement patrol officers seems non-existent, based on some avid cyclists.
![Enforcement by the NYPD and city parks enforcement patrol officers appears non-existent.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/speeding-bikes-2.jpg?w=1024)
“We don’t have the manpower to deal with the illegal bikes or the speeding ,” conceded Joe Puleo, president of Local 983 of District Council 37, which represents parks officers. “Our members are being told to direct most of their attention this summer to protecting pools and beaches.”
Tommy Bayiokos, a Brooklyn-based actor and drummer, fumed that he fears for his life each time he pedals alongside two waterfront bike paths adjoining to the Belt Parkway: one connecting Bay Ridge to Bath Beach and the opposite Sheepshead Bay to The Rockaways in Queens.
“I’m constantly turning my head because these mopeds, these dirt bikes, come out of nowhere so fast that you have little time to react,” he added.
![Man on a motorized bike speeding at 32 mph on a path for bikes and pedestrians in Hudson River Park.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/speeding-bike-1.jpg?w=231)
The 57-year-old additionally stated he’s even observed bikes this yr openly driving alongside the historic Ocean Parkway bike lane, a closely used pathway connecting Prospect Park to Coney Island shared by pedestrians. Motorcycles ought to as a substitute be utilizing a bustling roadway that runs adjoining to the bike path.
“Years in the past, this may by no means occur, however these bikes function with impunity – and there’s by no means a cop in sight,’ stated Bayiokos.
An NYPD spokesman stated commanding officers conduct site visitors enforcement in their precincts “based on the conditions present” and that cops are additionally making an attempt to weed out illegal-bike use via schooling consciousness initiatives.
While campaigning for workplace final yr, Mayor Eric Adams stated town and state wanted to crack down on dust bikes, ATVs and different unlawful rides – together with extra successfully utilizing pace cameras and cops to catch folks speeding on them.
In June, he joined NYPD officers at a Brooklyn auto pound to observe 92 unlawful dust bikes seized by authorities being pulverized below a bulldozer. He boasted that the NYPD on the time had already taken 900 of the bikes and ATVs off town streets in 2022 — an 88% bump over the identical interval a yr earlier.
When requested about Post’s findings, mayoral spokesman Charles Lutvak cited a $900 million funding the mayor introduced in April geared in direction of combatting site visitors deaths and violence and stated “the Adams administration is completely committed to keeping Yorkers safe in our streets.”