UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The mother of an Australian tourist who died after being struck by a truck on Central Park West is speaking out on Whoopi Goldberg’s rants against protected bike lanes on “The View.”
Amanda Berry said in a statement that her daughter Madison Jane Lyden “would still be alive” if Central Park West had a protected bike lane and that it’s “devastating to hear someone with such a big megaphone complaining” about the life-saving measures.
Lyden was fatally struck by a private hauling truck after being forced to swerve from the unprotected bike lane on Central Park West to avoid an Uber that was parked in the lane.
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“If there had been a protected bike lane on Central Park West, my daughter would still be alive today. I haven’t been to New York, but I understand that most residents don’t drive, and that many use bikes for daily transportation. These bike riders need to be protected, just as my daughter needed to be protected,” Berry said in a statement released by the group Transportation Alternatives.
Goldberg has ranted and raved about protected bike lanes having a negative effect on traffic — specifically her commute — during two separate shows of “The View” this week. The “Sister Act” star first brought up her complaints when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared on the show to tout an expansion of a city healthcare plan.
“What feasibility study did you all do when you decided to put these in?” Goldberg said, according to a transcript. “I noticed they’re not on Madison Avenue, and they’re not Park Avenue.”
“I come in every day, and I find that because you can’t make a turn anywhere, you can’t go straight anywhere,” she added.
Goldberg expressed particular indignation about a bike lane on 10th Avenue, which she said had been narrowed from six lanes to two and a half. (Tenth Avenue has no protected bike lane but one starts at West 72nd Street after the thoroughfare becomes Amsterdam Avenue, according to the city’s bike map.)
The comedy star also described state plans for “congestion pricing,” which will raise money for public transportation, as a “set up.”
De Blasio defended the bike lanes as part of his administration’s strategy to reduce traffic deaths, which fell to their lowest level in more than a century last year. He said they’re located “all over the city in every kind of neighborhood.”
Community Board 7, which represents the Upper West Side, has endorsed a plan to install protected bike lanes on Central Park West in light of Lyden’s death. The plans are backed by local City Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.
CB 7 transportation committee co-chair Howard Yaruss said during a September meeting that a proposal for a protected lane on the parkside avenue was rejected by the city Department of Transportation months before Lyden was killed. Rosenthal has described the young Australian woman’s death as “profound tragedy, even more so because it was preventable.”
Photos courtesy @bikeloveny
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