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Safety first, people.

(Advance file photo)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - I almost became a Vision Zero statistic the other day, thanks to a group of young bicyclists who brazenly ignored every traffic law and tenet of cycling safety.

And me without a dash cam to show you the evidence. I have to get one of those things. But until I do, trust me on this one.

Let me say one thing before we even get started: Writing about Vision Zero as much as I do, I try to be particularly safe whenever I'm out there driving. I drive with an over-abundance of caution, you might say. Bordering on the paranoid, to be blunt.

So, yeah, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Department of Transportation commissioner Polly Trottenberg can point to me as a real Vision Zero success story. "You see? At least one person is driving more cautiously because of us!"

But I digress.

The incident to which I'm referring happened on Monday on my way home from work at the Advance. I was on Mosel Avenue, waiting at a red light at Clove Road, heading north. Across the Clove from me, the first car in line was signaling to make a left turn.

So already we're in the crucible, right? I'm at this light every day of the workweek. Sometimes the folks who turn left will allow me through the intersection first, as right-of-way demands. Others, though, aren't so patient.

So I'm already calculating, hoping I will be permitted to get through the intersection first, but fully prepared to cede the way to an over-anxious fellow driver if that's the way it turns out to be. I don't need to make the ride home into a driving competition.

But I needn't have worried. When the light turned green, the other driver paused in order to let me proceed.

As I was doing so, however, I saw some motion out of the corner of my right eye: A group of half a dozen or so kids bearing down on me, riding their bikes down Clove from the direction of Hylan Boulevard and into the intersection, many of them riding wheelie-style, with their front tires in the air. I didn't notice any of them wearing a helmet.

It was clear that they had no intention of stopping at what for them was a red light. I was able to get through the intersection without colliding with any of them, but it was a close call between my back bumper and them.

And you know just as well as I do who the villain would have been if one of these sweet, young kids had been injured or, God forbid, killed in a collision with my car. Me. Even though they were clearly breaking the law.

Anyway, my heart beating a little faster, I continued on my merry way, making my usual left turn onto Steuben Street from Mosel and stopping at the light at Steuben and Targee Street. I tend to drive a bit slowly on Steuben because there are a couple of one-way intersections along the way and folks do tend to ignore the stop signs now and again.

But something told me to be even more careful than I usually am on this stretch of road. So after getting the green light to proceed, I hesitated for just a few seconds. And, sure enough, this same group of kids blew through the red light in front of me, on their way down Targee.

So that's twice I avoided finding myself at the top of the page on SILive.com for all the wrong reasons.

It's tough riding a bicycle on our roads. I get that. And this isn't a condemnation of every bike rider out there.

Just the ones who break the law. The ones who put all the rest of us in jeopardy, whether they're riding bicycles, dirt bikes or ATVs.

I'll have my eyes peeled on my way home tonight. And for a long time afterward, I think.