David Byrne loves riding his bike around New York, so it stands to reason that he's psyched about the city's new CitiBike share. "It will make New Yorkers rethink their city and rewrite the mental maps we use to decide what is convenient, what is possible," Byrne writes in the Times. But he also answers a controversial question for many cyclists: momentum or The Law? "I try to stop at red lights and often feel lame when other cyclists zoom by."
Byrne makes the point that "if this system is ever going to be safe enough for kids, stopping for lights and following traffic rules is something we all have to do." Seems reasonable to us. But in the accompanying video, Byrne also says he doesn't wear a helmet when he's on protected bike lanes that don't share the road with cars. Not as logical!
However, we're all for one of his suggestions (in addition to more bike lanes) for what the city can do to further help cyclists: "Bury the West Side Highway. Put it underground. Put the highway underground if you want to keep the damn highway."
