New York Daily News: By Evan Simko-Bednarski – Of the 11 cyclists killed so far this year, seven were riding electric bikes while four were riding traditional bicycles. Four of those killed riding e-bikes died in crashes involving no other vehicles, the spokesman said.

The city’s most recent cycling fatality was 16-year-old Jaydan McLaurin, killed Monday night by an SUV driver in a hit-and-run in Astoria, Queens.

Jaydan was struck while riding an electric Citi Bike on 21st St near the intersection of 21st Ave, police said. Jaydan suffered “severe trauma,” and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, said cops.

Yaser Ibrahim, 18, the driver of the BMW X7 that hit Jaydan, was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, driving with a tinted windshield and driving without a license, said police.

Danny Harris, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, called on the city to do more to prevent traffic deaths.

“We’re concerned by the deadly rise in hit-and-runs across the five boroughs — at least three in the past week alone — especially as so many hit-and-runs remain unsolved,” Harris said in a statement.

“Nobody should fear death or serious injury on our streets. No parent should have to worry about whether their child will make it home from a bike ride.”

The Transportation Department lists 21st St in Queens as one of its “priority corridors” — streets or intersections responsible for an outsize share of pedestrian deaths or injuries.

The rise in cycling deaths this early in the year is dramatic.

The NYPD Highway Patrol investigates after a bicyclist was struck by a minivan on Union Ave. and South 2nd St. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on January 9.
The NYPD Highway Patrol investigates after a bicyclist was struck by a minivan on Union Ave and South 2nd St in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on January 9 – Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News

According to city data, two cyclists had been killed by this time last year, with a total of 18 cycling deaths in 2022.

In 2021, 19 cyclists were killed — two of them by mid-April.

In 2020, with most New Yorkers indoors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only one cyclist had been killed by April — but 25 more died by year’s end.

Electric bikes were classified as motorcycles in city data prior to 2019 — but even when bicycle and motorcycle fatalities are combined, 2023 is the most lethal spring to date since at least 2013, the Transportation Department’s data show.

Monthly data are not available prior to 2013, but yearly fatality statistics kept since 1983 by Transportation Alternatives show 40 cyclists killed in the city in 1999 — the deadliest year for bicycle riders on record.

Top Feature Photo: A bicycle after a crash in Brooklyn last August – Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News