But for two small details, the run-in between a bicyclist and two men in a car on Monday evening would most likely have gone unremarked, just another entry in the annals of asphalt warfare in New York City.

The bicyclist, however, happened to be a transit activist with a cellphone camera and an active Twitter account. And one of the two men in the car was State Senator Martin J. Golden.

So rather than disappearing amid the stream of other social media gripes, the confrontation spawned a semi-viral Twitter post, a bout of amateur sleuthing and a renewed look at Mr. Golden’s record on traffic safety, not only in Albany, where he has voted against the expansion of speed-safety cameras in school zones, but also in New York City, where traffic records suggest a pattern of driving infractions.

In particular, critics highlighted a 2005 episode in which Mr. Golden hit a 74-year-old pedestrian while driving an S.U.V. The woman, Hariklia Zafiropoulos, died several months later. Police ruled the crash an accident and found Mr. Golden not at fault.