Before Bike-Share Launch, Watchful Eyes Deployed to Busy Intersections

New York City's Department of Transportation has stationed city employees around the most crowded intersections and areas of Manhattan in an effort to encourage safety among pedestrians, cyclists and motorists. This added security move comes less than one month before city officials have said Citi Bike will launch. The bike-share program is set to make 6,000 bikes available to commuters and tourists.

Dressed in reflective clothing, clutching miniature stop signs, "street safety managers" will urge cyclists to remain within the confines of bike lanes, ride in the direction of traffic and yield to pedestrians, according to a statement released by the Department of Transportation. The managers will also look to make certain pedestrians and cars stay clear of bike lanes.

"Our streets have never been safer and we're educating everyone on how to use them safely, and enforcing against those who don't," Janette Sadik-Khan, the city's transportation commissioner, said in a statement. "With more people out in the warm weather we're committed to doing even more to get out the message that safety is the rule of the road."

Four managers will be assigned to different locations in Manhattan during the week for morning and afternoon rush hours. The managers will be out monitoring cyclists and pedestrians until October.

Despite the precautionary measure, the city maintains that the risk of serious injury for bicyclists in the city has dropped almost 75 percent over the last decade, according to the statement.