Brownsville Cyclist's Death Spurs Calls For Protected Bike Lanes

BROWNSVILLE, BROOKLYN — New Yorkers rallied to honor the memory of a cyclist killed in a Brownsville crash last week and demand the city bring protected bike lanes in Brownsville, officials announced.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and local electeds gathered Monday — the same day a cyclist was killed in East Williamsburg — on the corner of Chester Street and Sutter Avenue, where 57-year-old Ernest Askew was fatally struck by a teenage driver Thursday night.

"We must stop the carnage on our streets," stated Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

"When it comes to street safety, black and brown neighborhoods like Brownsville have been left out of the conversation. That needs to change."

Askew's death spurred outrage across the city when it became clear he was the 14th New York cyclist to lose his life in the first six months of 2019, while only 10 cyclists died in all of 2018, and that ten of those cyclists were killed in Brooklyn.

Adams was joined by State Senator Zellnor Myrie and the cycling advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, whose members have called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to address concerns about racial equity within his transportation safety plan.

A Department of Transportation Map shows that there are no protected bike lanes in Brownsville or East New York.

As a comparison, here's the DOT bike lane in the more affluent areas of Brooklyn Heights and Midtown Manhattan.

Brooklyn Heights Bike Lanes

Midtown Manhattan Bike Lanes

The DOT map also shows that on the corner where Askew was fatally struck by a white Hyundai, neither street had a bike lane.

The Mayor responded to activists' calls on Twitter, stating that he directed police to launch a "major enforcement action" and the Department of Transportation to develop a new safety plan.

"NO loss of life on our streets is acceptable," he wrote.