NEW YORK — Following two deaths involving cyclists in NYC’s Central Park this fall, advocates are demanding safety improvements on the iconic park loop — especially given the fact that safety concerns sparked the City Council’s recent decision to ban horse carriages.

NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance — a nonprofit advocating for licensing all e-vehicles, plus banning them from parks — says a 3-year-old pilot program allowing e-bikes in Central Park has made the park more dangerous. They want the council to pass a proposed bill that would ban them completely.

“People are hit almost every day,” said Janet Schroeder, a leader of the group.

A rally was planned for Tuesday afternoon at 72nd Street on the West side of the park to underscore the dangers pedestrians often face. Schroeder says cyclists often blow through both a stop sign and a flashing red light there before whizzing through a pedestrian crosswalk, and that there have been “scores” of serious accidents.

Cars were banned from Central Park in 2018. Since 2023, a city pilot program has allowed e-bikes and other so-called micromobility devices to use the famed Manhattan park’s drives. In 2025, the park’s traffic signals were adjusted, setting many of them only to blink yellow. In addition, the park’s bike path was split into an outer fast lane for e-bikes and fast pedal bikes and a middle slow lane for slower pedal cyclists.

“When they see yellow, they see green,” Schroeder scoffed of cyclists. “When they see red flashing, that’s like yellow. … Why are bikes being prioritized over pedestrians?”

Concerns about safety in the park extend beyond e-bikes. Pedestrians trying to cross the famed loop often need to dash a treacherous route dodging both e-bikes and regular pedal bikes racing through the park.

Eamonn Kavanagh, 59, visiting from England last week, had just struggled to cross West Drive at 72nd St. as two young women on Citi Bikes slowly passed in front of his group.

“I don’t think the cyclists realize that it’s a pedestrian crossing, ’cause it’s not highlighted,” he said. “They could easily bang into a pedestrian.”

The City Council recently held a hearing on a package of 23 bills on e-bike safety, though it is unclear when they may come to a vote. Following a passenger’s death in a horse carriage accident in Central Park this summer, the City Council last week voted to ban the classic rides, long a popular New York tourist attraction. It was the first fatality in the 155-year history of the park carriage rides.

On the park loop, two people have died, both in accidents involving traditional pedal bikes. Around 6:30 a.m. on Sept. 23, as he was walking to his job as a steamfitter, Richie O’Brien, 41, was fatally struck on the park’s East Drive at 84th St., where there is a pedestrian crosswalk with a red/green traffic light for cyclists.

Asked if O’Brien was in the crosswalk and had the light, an NYPD spokesperson said the investigation is ongoing.

On Oct. 5 around 8:20 a.m., a 71-year-old cyclist riding a racing bike near the same spot braked to avoid an off-leash dog, sending him flying and fatally striking his head.

Until this fall there had been no pedestrians killed by cyclists in the park since 2014, when there were two fatalities.

On July 7, Jean Kotler, 43, was jogging on the park’s West Drive at 64th St. in the pedestrian lane around 4:30 p.m. when she was hit from behind by a wrong-way e-biker, suffering a traumatic brain injury and will be on disability the rest of her life, her niece said.

According to statistics from the NYPD’s Central Park Precinct, there has been an uptick in the number of traditional cyclists hurt in “severe” accidents in the park in recent years, even as the numbers of cyclists on motorized two-wheeled vehicles and pedestrians severely hurt in accidents have basically remained steady.

Last year, there were a total of 34 severe accidents in the park, affecting 22 pedal cyclists, seven cyclists on motorized two-wheeled vehicles and four pedestrians. In the three years before that, the number of severely injured pedal cyclists steadily rose from 11 to 14 to 17. So far in 2026, total severe injuries on the park loop are down a bit, standing at 20 year to date. One cyclist — an e-biker — died in the park last year in a crash.

EVSA’s Schroeder calls the new fast lane for e-bikes and fast pedal cyclists a dangerous “superhighway,” accusing it of fueling the spike in pedal bike crashes.

Upper West Side Councilwoman Gale Brewer, whose district includes Central Park, is one of the 14 sponsors of Intro 0377, though said, “I don’t think the bill is going anywhere.

Ultimately, she said, the solution is “more police” since enforcement of the rules on biking is what’s needed, though she knows some of her Council colleagues won’t like that idea.

“There’s a need for an intense oversight of this,” Brewer said.

Council Speaker Julie Menin, for one, is bullish on one of the 23 e-bike safety bills that calls for use of a speed-checking tool called a dynamometer that’s been used with success in bike-friendly cities like London and Amsterdam. Police can check e-vehicle speeds by running them on the portable, treadmill-like gauge. Illegal devices could be confiscated on the spot, which cops already can do.

Jeremy Edwards, a spokesperson for Mayor Mamdani, said, “Since cars were permanently banned on Central Park’s drives in 2018, it’s been a long time coming that the city rethinks the park drives to center around people — not vehicles. … The NYC Department of Transportation is working in close collaboration with the Central Park Conservancy and NYC Parks to continually monitor use of the drives and make adjustments to enhance safety for everyone enjoying this iconic park.”

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