After Dr. Carl Nacht, 56, and Derek Lake, 23, both died last Monday from bicycling related injuries, frustrated New Yorkers mobilized a public outcry about the reality of increasing bicycle popularity unaccompanied by safety policies. Nacht, who was riding on the Hudson River Park bike path, was hit by a crossing NYPD tow truck. Lake was crushed under a truck tire after slipping on a wet construction metal plate on Houston Street. Spurred also by the death of Donna Goodson while riding on Rockaway Parkway on June 5 and a bike rider seriously injured by an opened cab door on June 19, Transportation Alternatives an advocacy group for cyclists, pedestrians and sensible transportation helped organize a rally at City Hall last Thursday urging Mayor Bloomberg to adopt a new comprehensive plan to make bicycling safer for everyone. Noah S. Budnick, Deputy Director of Transportation Alternatives, explains why bicycling is more than a lifestyle choice or a shorter commute-it is a barometer for the overall safety and security of New York streets.Could you please give me some general statistics on bicycle injuries and deaths? What is the usual number per year?Noah S. Budnick:The NYPD has not released year-to-date bicycle crash and cyclist injury and fatality numbers. From press coverage, we know that at least three New Yorkers were killed in bike crashes in June and one in January. Over the past decade in New York City, bike crashes, injuries and fatalities have steadily declined from around 6,000 a year in the mid-1990s to near 3,000 a year in 2004 and 2005. During the same time, regular bike riding has steadily increased from 80,000 to 120,000 New Yorkers on bikes each day. This is significant because it confirms what we already know from research conducted in other cities: the more people ride, the safer streets and traffic are for all cyclists. For other organizations such as Critical Mass, bicycle usage seems to be more a political lifestyle choice than an argument for efficiency. Why has Transportation Alternatives given bicycle riding such a high priority?Budnick: Bicycling is so good for New Yorkers and for New York City that it should be a matter of course for our city leaders to promote and increase it at every opportunity. Bicycling is an efficient use of our scarce public space. In the street space it takes to move one car, you can move 10 people on bikes. In the parking space it takes to store one car, you can park a dozen bicycles.Is bike usage a life-style choice or/and is it an argument for traveling efficiency?Budnick: Riding a bike is commonsense in dense, flat New York City. It's a very low cost and quick way to get around, and bike riding is great exercise too, so you save time and money instead going to the gym. In addition to the health and environmental benefits sited above, one need only look at the breakdown of driving trip length in New York City to see just how widespread cycling can become here: 22 percent of driving trips are 1 mile or less in New York City 52 percent of driving trips are 5 miles or less in New York City. Thus, 74 percent of New York City driving trips are 5 miles or less. 50 percent of driving trips are 3 miles of less in New York City. It takes 15-20 minutes to bike 3 miles. It takes 25-30 minutes to bike 5 miles. When you factor in parking and traffic, biking is usually a quicker way to get around.You advocate for both bicyclist and pedestrians. Can they co-exist on the same pathways or should they be handled separately with different paths?Budnick: I'll start off by saying that sidewalks are wholly the domain of pedestrians, and adult bicyclists have no place riding there. To a pedestrian, a bicyclist is as threatening as a car is to a bike rider. Transportation Alternatives' Working Cyclist Safety and Bicycle Ambassadors campaigns are aimed at educating cyclists about safety and the rules of the road and preventing bicyclist/pedestrian crashes. The question of how to handle the mixture of bicyclists, strollers, roller bladders, walkers and people in wheelchairs that frequent New York City's off-street pathways (called "greenways") is a matter of three things: design, speed and safety.Is it possible to have bike paths and still have motor vehicle roads as well?Budnick:It's true that right-of-way space is a zero-sum game, but traffic is not; it is elastic, it grows and shrinks depending on conditions. City Hall needs to adopt policies that will reduce private car use and make more efficient use of our limited public street space. This will allow the City's traffic engineers to provide safe space, protected space for bike riders and safe space for pedestrians, too.In light of the three injuries this past week involving bicyclist, what is the key issue? Budnick: All three deaths were caused by dangerous conditions that are commonplace on New York City streets but should not be: drivers and passengers opening car doors into the path of cyclists; drivers failing to yield to cyclists and hazardous street conditions that can send bikes out of control. Mayor Bloomberg needs to get serious about making New York City a safe place to bike. The City's 'Bicycle Master Plan' is 10 years old and only 15 percent complete. It is devoid of targets, timetables and design standards that, as noted above, cities like London and Chicago are using to make streets safe for the growing number of people who cycle and want to cycle.