This is what scares me about the thought of riding a bicycle in New Haven. Not just obnoxious behaviors like this, but the fact that cyclists put up with all sorts of aggressive road behaviors. New Haven (DeStefano) is good at spinning, but when it comes to enacting and enforcing, the city and NHPD are failures. We need traffic and parking enforcement all over the city, not just downtown. So we got bike lanes, whoopee - it doesn't help if laws are not enforced. Hit people in their pockets with fines and tickets, their behaviors will change. The lack of Traffic Cop presence all over the city creates monster drivers. We need a definite division in the NHPD - cops that go out on calls (break-ins, muggings, robberies, etc), patrols on foot as well as road (to monitor activities and pinpoint street gangs and dirtbikers), traffic and parking enforcement, etc. The fact that we do not have this division - or if we do, it is a paltry number - is why we all hear and say things like this from time to time: "Oh you want someone to watch out for cyclists but we have street gang drivebys, and that's much more important than your little cycling problem." If we had enough monitoring in each division, EVERYONE would feel safer. But I hardly ever see cops stopping drivers for moving violations. People blatantly run red lights, turn right on red, all the time. New Haven should be swarming with cops.

I am planning to move back to New Haven this summer and recently purchased a bike. Are there any safe areas to ride ? Is the Farmington canal open and connected in the New Haven area now ? Are there places to park ? I agree, the drivers seem to relish scaring the daylights out of cyclists.

Street gangs love the Farmington Canal, they are mugging cyclists left and right. They have tested the Emergency Alert systems for police response times.

While I wouldn't dare defend the aggressive behavior of the driver - I'd like to point out that cyclists and pedestrians in our neighborhood are just as bad about disregarding traffic laws. I can't tell you how many red lights I've seen run by cyclists, pedestrians crossing against the signal, etc... There's a general lawlessness when it comes to all types of behavior on or near our roads. I'd like to see a social shift toward the appreciation of why we have laws - to keep everyone safe & happy! They shouldn't be seen as an inconvenience or giving preference to one type of traveler over another. This is supposed to be something we all benefit by! Stop being so reckless New Haven!

I agree there needs to be some greater education/enforcement of cycling laws in New Haven. People whizz by without giving the required 3 feet frequently.

However, I've never had a problem on the Farmington Canal. While I know that my experience is not representative of every one else's I think the danger is highly overstated.

Actually, when it comes to NHPD, the New Haven Register and any other crime reporting "agency" in this city, you can never understate criminal activities. MOST crimes are NOT reported to the public. The crimes may be reported, to Yale PD, NHPD, SCSU PD, landlords, aldermen, etc., but most never get press.

I have to admit that I sometimes use stoplights as stop signs when cycling at 6am. I do make a full stop, but after looking both ways, I'll still cross if the light hasn't changed. Sometimes I do it in the evening, too, but only to get away from drivers who are following or trying to pass too close. I will also cross with the pedestrian sign as well. I look abut it as a safety issue. I don't want to get hit, and I'm sure the driver doesn't want to hit me.

I also ride in NYC, and honestly, I feel safer riding up and down Park Ave than I do up State or Orange Streets.

Mr DJ - your response perfectly illustrates what is going on. Most of us (even the people we revile for being too aggressive) find some self justification for why we obey or disobey laws. So each of us, in our own little universe, feel like it's "okay to speed since everyone else is doing it" (my example) or "...will also cross with the pedestrian sign as well" (as in your example). This isn't a criticism or judgement about you personally, but speaks to the broader issue about how we all behave socially. As individuals we see the way we behave as being justified by our own set of ethical standards, but on the whole, this leads to quite a lot of chaos and risk. Until we change our behavior from being self based to socially based, we will continue to have these problems - no matter where you live.

Yes, and I fully admit that when there is no traffic at 6am, I really have no justification other than speeding up my trip. However, in the evening on my way home, cars will have far more of an impact on me than I do on them and while I could stand my ground, I feel that avoiding risk to life and limb far outweighs my obeying a traffic light when the coast is clear.

I will make a change to fully obey the lights when I don't feel threatened. However, the police need to enforce the three foot law before I will stop trying to get away from aggressive drivers by not waiting until the light has changed. My helmet will only protect me so much.

By the measure of acting selfishly and violating the social trust through dangerous risk taking, jumping a red light on a bike when there is no traffic coming in either direction is not remotely equal to dangerous driving or even, I would argue, driving above 25 MPH at any point within city limits.

At this stage in our transportation evolution, the rules of common sense, not illogically applied statutes, should prevail.

There are many cases when the appropriate socially-based decision for the fully alert cyclist is to jump the red light when no oncoming cars are in the vicinity

a. all the cars take notice at the cyclist. Even if just to curse, everyone is now safer because the driver is aware the cyclist is ahead
b. the cyclist can get out of the intersection ahead of time and not delay cars stacked up behind who might want to turn in the path of the cyclist
b. all the cars behind can clearly see the where the cyclist is going and not have to guess when everyone is moving side by side

Self justification created to permit yourself to write your own rules and regulations. If the laws aren't applicable then they should be changed, not bent. Just because you believe them to be inapplicable based on your own sense of logic and rational. Are the laws regulating the operation of a bicycle not supposed to apply when you feel them unnecessary? If so, you're allowing operators of cars to self-justify their own disobedience of their own applicable laws. If a bike can run a red when there is no traffic around, why can't a car? They aren't harming anyone. It's not that your rationale doesn't make sense, in the common way, it's just that it opens the door to everyone creating their own rules and abiding by them in their own way.

There really is no winning in the battle for supremacy between cyclists and motorists. Both sides are aggressive in exercising their "right to the road" and the fact that both sides perceive the other as "flouting the law" (i.e. cyclists running lights, passing stopped school buses, etc... and motorists "buzzing" cyclists, failing to yield the right-of-way, etc...) creates a feedback loop that will only make things worse as more cyclists hit the streets of New Haven. I was in NYC yesterday and noticed that physically separate bike lanes are going up everywhere. That really is the only solution. If Manhattan can create a separate bicycle infrastructure, than I don't see any reason why any other city in the country can't do the same. The one thing that has to happen is that the city needs to recognize (as NYC has) that cycling is EQUAL in legitimacy as a mode of transportation, to motor vehicles and then act on that recognition.

Until then, if you are a cyclist, do this: When you come to one of these instances where you feel as though you are 'OK' to disregard a traffic law (running a light, passing a stopped school bus, failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, etc...), think to yourself, "If I were in a car, would I do it?" If the answer is no, then don't do it. Cyclists have the same legal rights AND RESPONSIBILITIES as motorists.

I think it says a lot that DJ feels safer riding in NYC than in New Haven!

Was this issue actually on Eld St?

Thank you for the post, your information is appreciated. As this is an isolated incident, it is difficult for the division to address, therefore, this issue is being closed.

We are trying to close out historic requests such to better address current concerns. Thank you for the constructive dialogue regarding this matter.