Editorial

It’s about time Nassau embraced cycling culture

Posted

If you chat with folks who have lived in Nassau County for 50 or 60 years, they can recall a time when children could — and often did — ride their bicycles from the North Shore to the South Shore.

Once upon a time, the bike was a kid’s primary mode of transportation — even here in Nassau. Now take a drive around your local neighborhood. Look around. How many children do you see out on a sunny day, pedaling along in carefree abandon? How many adults?

Chances are that you’ll find none. In part, that’s the result of a cultural shift away from two-wheeled to four-wheeled transportation. People used to ride their bikes, no matter their age, to get from point A to point B, particularly if it was a local trip. Now we just hop in our cars, no matter the distance. If you’re too young to drive, you depend on your parents to get you from here to there.

That’s a terrible shame. Since 1956, May has been National Bike Month, sponsored by the League of American Cyclists. In Nassau, however, there’s relatively little to celebrate.

In the 1950s, ’60s and even into the ’70s, the county experienced a housing boom unlike any seen before in this country. Farm fields and forests were filled in with neat rows of single-family homes. In the mad rush to put up all the houses, there was little thought given to pedestrian and bicycle safety. Suddenly, or so it seemed, there just weren’t long stretches of clear road to walk and pedal on. So people, kids included, just stopped riding bikes.

In recent years, we’ve begun to see a resurgence of bicycle culture. New York state and Nassau County have laid down a number of picture-perfect bike paths where people can ride safely, unhindered by cars. Specifically, we’re thinking of the 3.6-mile Wantagh Parkway bike path extension from Jones Beach to Tobay Beach, which was completed in 2014, as well as the 10-mile bike path looping through the county’s Hub, finished in 2009. We also love what’s been happening in the City of Long Beach, which has gone out of its way to create a bike-friendly atmosphere and promote cycling culture. You only need look to the crowded Long Beach boardwalk, where you’ll see hundreds of cyclists out riding, to understand that, yes, people still love to bike.

That being said, Nassau County has but 46 miles of bicycle paths, most of which are confined to parks, according to the state Department of Transportation. By contrast, New York City has 524 miles of paths, and Suffolk County, 322. The majority of these routes are on streets.

More needs to be done in our county. In too many neighborhoods, people don’t feel safe riding their bikes, and that’s just wrong. We need more bike paths that are separate and apart from the busy and often frightening thoroughfares that cut through our county.

At the same time, motorists must to do a better job of respecting cyclists. Too often, bike riders are treated as nuisances. They are honked at, jeered at, given the finger. It’s important to remember, though, that they have just as much of a right to the road as any motorist does — and they are far more vulnerable than drivers, riding along unprotected by the metal cocoon of a four-wheeled vehicle.

So, as you approach a bicyclist in your car, be cautious. Slow down. Be alert for unexpected movements. Cyclists must often navigate around potholes and objects that motorists can run right over without much thought.

Bicycling is an excellent form of aerobic exercise. It gets you out of the house and into the world. In a word, it’s just fun. We shouldn’t feel afraid to ride our bikes.

We must also remember that cars send vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, we all know by now, is the leading cause of global warming, which exacerbates big storms like Hurricane Sandy. In choosing to ride a bike, you are helping to protect the planet.

Since 2014, we haven’t heard much about increasing the number of bike trails around the county, except in places like Long Beach. That has to change.