a million ways to die

Last night Alexander and I see a screening of Seth MacFarlane’s new movie, A Million Ways to Die in the West. The film is in incredibly bad taste, politically incorrect in every imaginable way, brimming with potty humor, and is still, hilarious.  As the title suggests, there were many ways to die in the late 1800’s if you lived in the west: gun fights, bar brawls, Indians, rattlesnakes, wild animals, and pestilence, to name just a few.

In 2014 New York, there are also many ways to die.  Guns. Crime. Weather. Cars.  Disease. And now, hordes of city bikers.

Not long ago a bike lane was added along the west side of First Avenue. 

The other day a woman almost hits me. She is cycling, at a fast pace, the wrong way down a one-way street. I naively assume she doesn't know that First Avenue is a northbound street and she is heading south. I yell out to her, "Hey, you're going the wrong way." She ignores me, as I knew she would.

Today I walk over to 79^th and First with my camera.  Within five minutes, I see:

A deliveryman ignoring the red light as he pedals through the busy intersection.

Another deliveryman taking a right on red, though I’m sure he knows this is illegal in NYC.

And a man pacing back and forth in the middle of the crosswalk waiting for the light to change.

Today I don't see any of the sidewalk bicyclists (and not the four-year old ones) weaving through pedestrian traffic.

When Alexander leaves the house, my usual warnings include:  Don't wear headphones when you're walking.  Take a cab if it's after midnight.  Only walk down the major cross streets if it's late.  

Now I must add: Watch out for bicyclists, and always look both ways when you cross, even if the street is one-way.

There are a million ways to die out there.  Even in this country's safest large city.