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After this week's pedestrian deaths from cars making turns, Gothamist was wondering about pedestrian fatality statistics. am New York found out from Department of Transportation data that there were 152 pedstrian deaths last year, which is the lowest since 1910. (That still sounds like a lot, since it's about 3 people a week!) However, Transportation Alternatives has four suggestions for the DoT to pursue:
1. Provide pedestrians exclusive crossing time so that turning motorists have the red light while pedestrians have the walk signal.We like these ideas, but we're sure the DoT won't bother to give them their due as their goal is to keep traffic moving - and drivers can't stand those packs of walkers. It is, to make the bad pun, a two way street between drivers and walkers - each side needs to be defensive. The only other idea Gothamist has is elevated crosswalks, but that will never happen...will it?
2. Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPI) or "pedestrian head starts" give pedestrians the signal before motorists, better establishing their presence in the crosswalk and making them more visible to turning motorists.
3. "Neckdowns" — sidewalk extensions at corners, force motorists to make slower, more accurate and safer turns.
4. Raised crosswalks in which the pavement under crosswalks is elevated by 4 inches, again force motorists to slow down when navigating an intersection.
And we really hate it when we have the walk signal and are crossing the street, but then some jerk comes zipping down the street - and we didn't seem him because there was a huge SUV or van parked on the corner.
Photograph from nycmikewp on Flickr
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While i am all for pedestrian safety and rarely do i ever need to pilot a car in the city, some of these ideas are well-intentioned, but impossible. The first two i have little to no problem with.
But the idea of the "neckdown" is great for pedestrians, but would cause turning traffic to snarl up real nice. Slowing down for a turn is fine, but to create an extra obstacle for a car to navigate around is just a roadblock.
The raised crosswalk is another thing that would cause complete mayhem in the streets. 4 inches is the height of an average speedbump. Even a raised height of 1 inch would impede the flow of automobile traffic during the green light. If a car(who has the right of way) has to slow down for a crosswalk, pedestrians would take advantage of this (as we always do) and cross the street against the light. The result being more pedestrians in danger and traffic grinding to a halt.
when I lived in Manhattan in the early 80s it seemed like I was always seeing chalk outlined bodies in the street. I don't know if these were real peds that got hit or some graffitti artist. I always thought that if it was a graffittist it was a cool idea, but on the other hand, if it was real there were way too many of them for comfort.
Both sides have to be defensive? What motorist ever died from a crazy drunk pedestrian ramming into a car?
btw, i work above the intersection of bway and 14th street ... heard a thud at 3pm today, looked down, someone else was hit by a car but escaped unhurt. looked like a car with govt plates. one of the worst intersections in the city.
a couple of weeks ago i watched a program on tv regarding this (i think it was ny1) there is a trail Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPI) or "pedestrian head starts" going on right now somewhere uptown on the eastside. there has been good feed back and thus far it seems to work-nobody has been runover.
Other towns (Chicago and Washington, in particular) have a ped light countdown from 30 to 0, 0 being when the light turns green for cars. Might not decrease pedestrian whackings, but it looks cool.
www.forgotten-ny.com
I saw something on CBS 2 news the other day about some assemblywoman in Queens who wants to do a test of those pedestrian countdown signals on Queens Bvld. (aka Bvld. of Death). The mentioned that someplace in North Jersey has them. They would be worth it if they just save one life.
I was hit by a turning cab last week. He was making a left turn as I crossed at Schermerhorn and Smith in Brooklyn, and because he atually did try to stop I was only gently hit (and had my foot run over), and was essentially unhurt. Nevertheless, it was terrifying.
There is a relatively new neckdown at the corner of Atlantic and Court, which does make it feel safer to cross there. Naysayers need to keep in mind that when it comes to pedestrian vs. motorist, it is not a fair fight. The transportation alternatives suggestions seem not only reasonable but necessary, especially if you've ever been on the pedestrian side of that crash.
Crossing Broome going north on Lafayette is a death trap. I don't know what it is about that intersection, but there seems to be a disproportionate number of aggressive SUV drivers unwilling to stop, even if they see you 3 feet away from them. It's horrible.