Wednesday’s Headlines: Pray for Safety Edition

If you believe in God, then you’d certainly agree that She doesn’t want you speeding, She doesn’t want you blocking bike lanes, and She definitely doesn’t want you failing to yield to a pedestrian. But the last thing She wants you to do is break the Sixth Commandment in a car (the Seventh, maybe, but definitely not the Sixth).

So that’s why Families for Safe Streets is inviting all religious leaders to Brooklyn Borough Hall on Thursday for a forum, “The Epidemic of Traffic Injuries and Deaths: The Role of Faith Communities.” The group has a lesson plan to help priests, rabbis, imams and other pulpit masters sing the gospel of street safety to their congregants (most of whom defile the earth by driving).

“All faith leaders can … remind communities it is up to each and every one of us to make sure we are all responsible for each other and must slow down, pay attention and support solutions that save lives,” the group said in a statement.

So urge your religious leader to attend on Thursday at 10 a.m. and RSVP here. And if you see Borough President Adams, tell him Streetsblog said he should listen to the safety sermon closely!

Meanwhile, from the assignment desk, DOT is having a big day on Wednesday, with a “Green Wave” announcement in East New York at 10:30. The Times’s Winnie Hu got a handout preview from DOT.

For now, here’s the news:

• The cyclist who logged the millionth ride over the Manhattan Bridge since the digital sign board went up last July has outed him or herself — as a person who really has no fucks left to give (Reddit). Activists who wanted a photo-op felt snubbed (Chelsea Yamada via Twitter).
• The Daily News offered more information about Eduardo Calle Abril, the DOT worker who was killed on the job on Tuesday.
• Bus riders (and their elected officials) in Brooklyn are not happy about service cuts in the borough (NYDN). Meanwhile, the MTA revealed an entirely new bus route network in the Bronx (NYDN, NY Post)
• No matter how you crunch the numbers (and we have!), car drivers are getting safer and the rest of us are getting slaughtered. As the Wall Street Journal put it, “Crash-related deaths involving pedestrians and cyclists are contributing to a growing share of total roadway fatalities, highlighting how new safety technologies in cars today have so far fallen short in protecting many outside the vehicle.” Of course, others in the mainstream media only care about driver deaths (USA Today), but Streetsblog’s Gersh Kuntzman made it clear who is to blame and why. The New York Times, which ignores most cyclist and pedestrian deaths in the city that gives the paper its name, got around to covering it, too, and added some nice details.
• OK, everyone, Politico’s Dana Rubinstein had the story last week, but, yes Andy Byford is here to stay (you know, for now). (NY Post, amNY, NYDN, and, yes, Politico’s Dana Rubinstein)
• Pro-car Staten Island Advance columnist Tom Wrobleski is at it again, willfully misunderstanding what the term “car culture” means and why city officials increasingly talk of “breaking” it. He’s all over the map, as always, defending all the driving he and his fellow islanders do, yet also complaining that the Rock lacks alternatives (which is true). But his solution always boils down to wanting government to get off the backs of drivers, yet presenting no evidence that government is actually standing on them. It’s just more whining from, yes, an entitled car culture drunk on cheap gas and open roads.
• The MTA board is questioning the need for 500 state cops to fight the straw man of fare evasion. (amNY)
• More debris rained down from the 7 train. (Gothamist)
• Isn’t it about time you considered an air horn?
• And, finally, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams gave a shout-out to our friend Clarence Eckerson Jr. at Streetfilms in his debate last night on NY1: