As the summer was coming to a close, Alexander Toulouse and his father, Christopher were out a bike ride, one of the 8-year-old’s favorite pastimes. His father sped up to lead his son Alexander as they made the turn onto Boerum Place from Livingston Street in downtown Brooklyn.

Moments later, the boy was dead. Hit by a postal truck whose driver didn’t even see him.

Police didn’t charge the truck driver. Accidents between motorists and pedestrians, like the one that killed Alexander, are common at this Brooklyn intersection—one of the city’s worst. It’s a five-way whirlwind of cars, busses, and suddenly-stopping delivery trucks where two people have died in the past year and where 11 serious accidents occurred between 1995 and 2005.

Despite the dangers, New Yorkers are increasingly turning to their bikes as a cheaper, greener source of transportation. In fact, biking is up 35 percent this year, according to the Department of Transportation. At the same time, 23 cyclists died last yea the highest number in eight years. In New York State, about 25 percent of non-motorists who died in fatal highway accidents were cyclists—nearly double the national average, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Bike advocacy groups estimate that there are thousands of collisions resulting in injuries between cyclists and motorists in the state every year. Collisions are harder to track than fatal accidents, however, since many incidents go unreported.

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