Ross Reilly was sitting on the chair near the round wooden dining table, which was standing close to the couch. Ross was wearing a black jacket over a grey shirt, and simple blue jeans. Ross and I were in his apartment, so none of us had shoes on, Ross and his girlfriend Christina have carpeted floors, so everyone has to take off shoes when walking in their apartment. Ross is a kind of a person who looks very intimidating up to the moment he starts speaking. 230 pounds of muscle, long beard, and messy hair do not communicate trust right away; however, when he starts talking, he becomes an amiable and understanding person in the eyes of an interlocutor. When Ross spoke during the interview, he kept brushing his long beard and, occasionally, one of his cats. Ross and his girlfriend have three cats and a dachshund, that is also known as wiener dog, named Happy. Grey cat, whose name is Logan, was purring near Ross’s feet as a way of asking for attention during the conversation. Other two cats, Lady Yuna and Squeekers, were sniffing my coat and a backpack that was laying on top of the dining table. I felt comfortable being at his place because I have met Ross earlier through Christina. I reached out to Interview Ross Reilly to get a different perspective on the issue that I was focusing during my observation in midtown on October second. After writing about cycling from an insider’s perspective, I thought it was important to learn about the drivers’ perspective. Ross is a twenty-seven-year-old man who drives for work two to four times a week. Usually, his route starts at Staten Island going through Brooklyn into Queens, and then he drives from Queens over the bridge to get to sixty-third street, next he drives either up the streets or on JFK highway, after all going to his home in West New York, New Jersey. Ross mentioned that once or twice a week he drives through midtown, but generally, he tried to avoid that area for several reasons. He does not like how slow he has to go there and how much foot and car traffic there are. Ross said that he loves driving at night, but when he is in midtown, New York City seems always to be busy. Ross sometimes drives for leisure on weekends, but he says it’s difficult to find parking if you don’t want to pay. Our interview began by discussing Ross’s route which led into the following discussion. 00:03:10 [Beginning of Recorded Material] Slava: Do you think that driving in the City is different from driving in other areas, like Jersey or where you usually drive Ross: I will that this area of West New York, since we’re right outside of Lincoln Tunnel, it is somewhat similar to New York (said in high pitch voice), in a sense that you either have to be very aggressive or very passive. In a sense that like, hey. If you’re trying to merge, if you wanna wait for someone to let you go, you can do that, but if you wanna get through it is kind of a mentality that is “Hey, you’re gonna push through and like if you wanna hit me they’re gonna be at fault at that point, and most NYC drivers are confident and smart enough to understand that they will be at fault of this, so I have to let them go, so they have to time it right. Especially in New York City, especially in midtown. And I think a lot of people are used to that aggressive mentality because of taxi drivers. So they know if a person is aggressive they’re going to drive right behind the person who’s in front of them. Slava: So, are you talking about taxi drivers who are driving close to the cars in front of them? Ross: I am just talking about aggressive mentality. People will either be passive and drive a little bit back from the car in front of them so people can just come in and take their spot. While other ones will basically stay right behind the car in front of them so no one can get in front of them kind of thing. But that also can cause more accidents, that’s why there are fender benders in NYC and like midtown area Slava: (interrupting) More…what? Fender benders? Ross: Yeah. It just means like… .t is not a major accident, but like the back of the car is bent or the front. So they call it fender benders Slava: Ah, so the parts that were basically made to be hit. Ross: Exactly! So that’s why you will usually see a few of these accidents on the streets every day. When you drive a lot, you know when to drive more assertively to get in position you want Slava: So how do you categorize yourself? According to these descriptions? Ross: Um, I would say more aggressive in a sense that I am…I am, like, I’ve driven there so much no, I know what I can get away with and what I can’t. Like, I’ll understand like if I see someone who’s just taking their time, whatever, I know I can just go around them. And I am like, okay I’m not gonna like honk at them non-stop, but some people will do that. But it’s just easier to get around them and just go on. Cause, you know, usually they’re just the one slow person in a lane, and I’ll say 70% of people are driving at a decent speed, and like 10% are driving at a slow speed and 20% like a moderate speed. Slava: So what’s the reasonable speed for you according to speed limits? Ross: I would say people usually go like 10 miles over the speed limit. Something like that…Um, I’d say the fastest I’ve seen is probably like 20-25 miles over the speed limit. But that’s, like, at night, when no one is on the road…Um, people. That’s a nice thing about New York City at night. Just going up the streets instead of across the avenues. If you go up the streets, you get a green light from like 60Th if you’re going even like 5 miles over the speed limit, up to like a 110th without hitting a red light. That’s why people do speed a little bit The comment above shows that the way lights work in NYC makes people want to speed and Ross is an example of one out of many more drivers who have this opinion. The problem is that the lights are timed for the cars driving with speed of 25 miles per hour. Slava: I see. What about running the lights? Ross: I don’t run the lights. Like, you don’t have to run the lights if you’re going at that speed. Usually, you’re going fast enough. The New York will basically all light up at once, one after the other. So if there is not much traffic, you can just go all the way to midtown. But I try to avoid midtown. Slava: You mentioned earlier how you behave with other drivers on the roads. What about pedestrians and other people who are not driving cars? Ross: Pedestrians…Um, bikers you always gotta watch out for. Um, especially when sometimes they’ll try and get into the street to get around, um, certain things…I’ll say bikers can actually be some of the most dangerous things on the road because, like, sometimes they even have a bike red light, and most bikers will ignore it. And honestly, I’ve seen a lot of times especially on 106th there is a specific biker red light on a left side of the lane. Um, I see them blow through it all the time, and it’s dangerous because the cars have a green light on that same turn. I’ve seen several people almost get hit by cars because of it, and yeah it’s very unfortunate.  A lot of those guys are delivery people. You see them having food on the back of their bike. I’ll say the pedestrian bikers are less likely to take those risks, while the people who are working for business are more likely. They have to get somewhere. It’s just a dangerous kind of aspect. They are very much like taxis in that sense, you know. Slava: Yeah, but for delivery workers, I think they get used to not worry about such things because there are not many bike lanes in residential areas. That’s like a habit you get into when you’re always trying to get around safely with the cars. Ross: Yeah… I would never bike in the city; honestly, I’ve heard too many horror stories. My cousin was a trainer with another one right in midtown, and the other trainer’s best friend just got killed in a hit and run when he actually had the correct light, but the car just sped through the light and just hit him. So, they just left…They had a recording of it, and the guy got caught eventually, but he killed him straight out. Although I cannot know the exact reason of why the driver was speeding, I assume that this terrible story can be an example of how drivers, who believe that it’s worth going over the speed limit to make a light, can end up injuring or killing people. New York City needs a more logically thought through the street structure for cars and cyclists and pedestrians, in order to decrease injuries and deaths on the streets. Slava: Do you know what kind of penalty did the driver get? Ross: Oh yeah, the guy got a heavy sentence because it was intentionally, like, he intentionally broke the law. And it’s like a second-degree slaughter or something like that because it was just like, you know, it was his own fault. I am not saying that bikers are at fault, or all drivers are at fault, but it’s definitely dangerous biking in the city, especially during…I’ll say actually the most dangerous part of the day for them is when there is less traffic on the streets at night because they can go faster. During traffic, they’re not in that much danger. Because car might just bump them or something like that, but during night time that’s when you have a lot of deliveries going for dinner and things like that. I’ll say around 7-9 o clock that’s the most dangerous for them. Slava: And just to confirm, who do you mean by “them”? Ross: Delivery people, bikers. Slava: Would you say it’s dangerous for both bikers and drivers? [00:12:56] Ross: Yeah, I’d say it’s dangerous for both. Also, drivers have to be watching out for the bikers because no one wants to kill someone. And get themselves in trouble or hurt someone. But also it’s like okay I need to watch out for this person because if I’m trying to make a left, and then there is a biker there I have to make a split second decision of do I try and swerve right to avoid them or like try and break fast enough to avoid them or hit them. It is dangerous for drivers as well, because they can cause an accident. The discussion kept going for the next 35 minutes mentioning several other interesting things. For example, how the streets of the city can improve, what is needed for such a change, and how New York needs more parking garages to accumulate for the number of car owners. However, when thinking about how the city can improve its structure, Ross did not come up with any ideas related to the cycling infrastructure. I explicitly then asked him what would he do to improve bike lanes. To that question, he only said that he would add more on them. However, he did not mention any existing problems. This shows the extent to which Ross as a driver is not aware of issues that cyclists have to deal with on everyday basis. Before the interview started, I had a certain expectation about the things I was going to hear from someone who drives in the city and who does not recognize bicycles, skateboards or roller blades as alternative modes of commuting. It was expected to hear that Ross does not know the reasons behind cyclists not following the traffic lights or riding in the lane with cars. However, to hear more of his opinion, I tried to stay as neutral as possible. This helped Ross to elaborate more on the topics that he thought were important. Which were mostly car-related. For example, this interview proved that often drivers who drive aggressively on the roads, blocking the bike lanes and running the lights, do not consider themselves being wrong. This is just the way many people in New York feel comfortable driving. Moreover, such driving is being encouraged by poor street infrastructure and illogically working traffic lights. The interviewee confirmed this by saying that he also thinks that NYC needs more logical solutions to the way streets function. Ross’s comments on his own driving helped me to gain a better understanding of what kind of thoughts drivers in the city might have when dealing with pedestrians and cyclists in a busy area. Midtown may not be the calmest place in New York. As the interviewee mentioned, he hates driving through there because of how busy the streets are. Ross believes that he has to drive aggressively in order to drive safely in the city. Such thinking is helpful neither for drivers, nor for cyclists. However, the interview above proves that New York City has to work on the structure of its streets in order for people to feel safe no matter whether it is a pedestrian, a driver or a cyclist.

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