I've always marveled at drivers who honk at people stopped in the turn lane while waiting for traffic going in the other direction to clear. Where do the honkers expect them to go, after all?

The answer probably is that they expect them to be more aggressive (as THEY would be) and risk an accident just so THEY can get where they're going faster.

"One of your commenters mentioned frustrated speed as a cause of hostility, and I think that's right; most times we're in transport it's because we want to get somewhere after all, and in any mode we can get annoyed at delay -- we've probably all seen the nasty altercations on the Brooklyn Bridge between cyclists who get really annoyed when they have to slow for wayward tourists who don't observe the rule/norm"

That's why we need a partition on the bridge.

Ultimately pedestrians should be as isolated from moving vehicles, be they bicycles or cars, as possible. Separate lanes, double reds for vehicles at major intersections, that sort of thing.

http://www.forgotten-ny.com

(which will be back soon)

Me too, but not as much as when a tourist is killed in traffic. Or detained in customs by DHS for some nonsense reason. Or experiencing some local transportation disgrace. There are a lot of ways we can improve the tourist experience; I don't think that banning bikes from the brooklyn bridge path should be at the top of that list. It would have a real cost in time (and even lives, potentially) for displaced bicycle commuters. Plus, get this: even tourists rent and ride bicycles. Even across the bridge, unless my tourist sense is sorely mistaken. It would be a shame to take that option away from them, too.

Besides, if we ban bikes on the bridge all the tourists guides will say, "Oh, the Brooklyn Bridge Mall!" and it will be too crowded for anyone to use for anything. (This is an inside-Streetsblog joke.) Which reminds me, there are VENDORS on the bridge, probably ILLEGAL and definitely adding to the space crunch. If I were like SOME PEOPLE I would say that nothing must change about that path until the vendors are sent to Guantánamo but instead I'll just say that I'd prefer not seeing so much of that one shirtless dude's boxer shorts--it's a little gross!

Remember another, anti-cyclist rant Carlin had: "Stay on the sidewalk with the other children!"

We live in a world that centers on instant gratification. I want to know ____ so I Google it. I want to eat ______ so I order it and it comes to my door. Getting from Point A to Point B is an extension of the me-first mentality.

Here's a suggestion: Implement Hans Monderman's ideas about Shared Space (http://tinyurl.com/2x8joq) --- hardly any markings on the road, no rules except the requirement to constantly negotiate your behavior with other road users.

The best solution is to take the innermost lane away from the cars, and use it for bikes. The bike ride would not be a pleasant -- closer to the cars -- but that would be fair nonetheless.

I'll only point out that the Brooklyn Bridge has gotten harder to walk across in the last 10 years except in the winter time. Even though I try to stay in the pedestrian lane I still have to pass people who walk slowly. It can be dangerous. And at best it's not a comfortable walking situation. Just like it's getting to be on the roadway in Prospect Park especially in the morning. And on weekends I won't walk on the roadway. . .

Car drivers say "they don't follow the rules", "it's their fault for being there" to cyclists.

Cyclists say "I can only hurt me." "Car drivers should know I'm there." "No harm no foul with pedestrians."

Pedestrians say "Car drivers don't ever stop." "Bikers don't care about me."

Blogs like Streestblog is only happy to help. What if a cyclist runs a red light and carreens into the side of your truck? Do you think you'd walk away "unharmed?" Do no not think that that could cause some serious anguish even though you did nothing wrong (than commit the vile offense of owning a truck)

"I bike. I walk. I drive." That's what most people could say. No matter which it is on any given day, we don't live in a bubble. Things we do have effect on others -- positive or negative. Regardless of how we choose to move.

I think a better solution when pedestrians and cyclists are competing for limited space is to take it away from cars. When the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883, the original configuration included two lanes for horse drawn carriages, two lanes for street cars, and an elevated walkway. There's no reason why the bridge can't be reconfigured to limit cars and favor pedestrians, cyclists, and mass transit.

Please Please lets leave the Brooklyn Bridge to pedestrians. I am so embarrassed for New York City when I see hundreds of people crowded into one lane to allow far fewer cyclists to pass and then hear and watch as those cyclists spew venom on the tourist who dared to stray into "their" lane to take a photograph. What a great memory to bring back from their trip to the Big Apple.