Pedalling furiously in the Big Apple

A New York cyclist and filmmaker has made a painful protest about obstructions on the city’s bike lanes. Casey Neistat has filmed himself deliberately crashing into obstacles in a bid to highlight the problem. The idea for the film, now an online hit, followed an incident in May when a policeman issued Neistat a $50 (£31) fine for riding in a traffic lane, dismissing his plea that the bike lane was dangerously blocked.

New York City has seen commuter cycling double in the past decade and there are more than 170 miles of bike lanes. However, cyclists complain that cars and delivery vehicles disregard the lanes. They tend to use them as an extra parking lane, while pedestrians use them to escape congested pavements.

 Teaming up with a friend, he then made his film. “As instructed I refused to leave the bike lane,” he said. “Whatever we found, I crashed into.” Neistat crashed into a taxi, a traffic cone, construction materials and finally a police car.

The filmmaker said the falls were not really as painful as they looked because skateboarding experience taught him to fall safely. Now posted online, the video has had a million hits on YouTube.