It is time for TWU Local 100 to turn its attention to the real culprit behind bus drivers in handcuffs and dead pedestrians : poorly designed intersections.
In the highly charged discussions of the last few weeks, it seemed that everyone forgot the fundamental rule of Vision Zero: accepting that mistake will be made and design the road to prevent resulting fatalities and injuries.
A review of Manhattan most dangerous intersections below shows that not only many of them are located on bus routes but in certain cases buses must turn at these very intersections. It is time that pedestrians bus drivers and bus riders join forces and ask DOT to make a priority of installing split phases at these dangerous intersections in each borough.
We are delighted that Transporation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets are looking toward such a goal: ” As the momentum builds toward a greater shared understanding of the need to protect the most vulnerable users of our streets, we look forward {…} to a time when we can begin working with unions on the points where we have common ground – including the need for more dedicated turn signal phases for buses, and alert systems to help make pedestrians and bus operators aware of each other’s presence in crosswalks. – http://transalt.org/news/releases/8186#sthash.V02ZRACy.dpuf“