Bicyclists in Park Slope should be extra careful: It is the deadliest spot in Brooklyn for cyclists, a city study has found.
The study examined the 225 deaths of cyclists over the past decade as part of strategy to enhance rider safety.
It identified the western edge of Park Slope near St. Marks Place and Fourth Ave. as one of three clusters of bicycle fatalities in the city where three or more people were killed within 1,000 feet.
The other two deadliest spots were on the upper East Side of Manhattan and in Hunts Point in the Bronx. All told, 14 cyclists lost their lives in collisions in the zones.
"Those are all areas with a lot of traffic and a lot of cyclists so there is a lot of competition between bicyclists and cars," said Noah Budnick, deputy director of advocacy for Transportation Alternatives.
City Transportation Department Commissioner Iris Weinshall and other city officials released the report as they announce an ambitious plan to enhance rider safety.
The plan includes creating 200 additional miles of bike lanes and routes in the next three years, some with pavement markings. Just one cyclist was killed in a bike lane during the time frame of the study, between 1996 and 2005.
The DOT plans to create 30 more bicycle lanes and routes in the coming months in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Flatbush, in Chelsea and the lower East Side in Manhattan, and the South Bronx.
Since July, it has installed more than 10 miles of bicycle lanes or routes in Queens.
The DOT had already moved to improve conditions at the Brooklyn and Bronx cluster locations, a spokeswoman said.
In Park Slope, the department installed a bicycle lane on Third Ave. southbound from Dean to Union Sts., and on Fifth Ave. both ways from Carroll to 23rd Sts., said the spokeswoman, Kay Sarlin.
It also created a Class 3 bicycle route designation on Fifth Ave. from Carroll to Dean Sts. and installed bicycle lanes on Dean and Bergen Sts.
Additional safety improvements are in the design phase and will be implemented in the near future, Sarlin said.
