The year 2023 marked significant advances in traffic safety not just in our district, but also the city and the country:
In Our District
- DOT completed the 9th Avenue painted super sidewalk from W 50th to W 58th. In front of Moynihan station a magnificent super sidewalk in concrete was installed. We installed signage to help educate street users on this new space.
- Thanks to our Council Member Erik Bottcher, 10th Avenue from W 38th to W 50th now features a wide bike lane.
- Pedestrian lighting and plantings now liven the sidewalk under the high line extension from 10th to Dyer Avenue.
- DOT installed one shared streets on W 22nd Street (7/8) and approved four more on Hudson Boulevard.
We published a policy and trained numerous delivery workers to follow the rules of the road, completed the trash corral pilot on W 45th street (9/10) and – with your help – fiercely defended your space whenever laws or rules threatened to encroach on the sidewalk.
At the City Level
- City Hall Created a Street Realm officer position to coordinate the various agencies involved in the public space. A crucial step in scaling up our efforts (Open Plans)
- After Open Plans mounted a coordinated campaign, DOT committed to installing 1,000 daylighting features per year at dangerous intersections in the city, a proven way to reduce crashes.
- Following Streetsblog campaign, New Jersey and New York are strengthening regulations related to illegible and illegal registration.
- NYPD committed to add traffic deaths and injuries to its crime stats report and review. This should have a major impact on the enforcement and public perceptions of crashes. Thank you Transporation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets.
- Transporation Alternatives updated its Spatial Equity toolkit.
- And congestion pricing is advancing: the installation of gantries is completed and public comment period is started. Thank you Charles Komanoff.
- In response to Rider’s Alliance’s 6 minute service campaign, the MTA has started to increase service frequency on many subway lines.
On the federal Level
Finally on the federal level, the Manual of Unified Traffic Control Devices ( better known as MUTCD or the traffic engineers’s bible) now contains many guidelines that are more sensitive to safety and reflect the needs of cyclists and pedestrians. Not perfect yet by a long shot, but a beginning.
Also the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued proposed regulations requiring Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) for light vehicles like cars, SUVs, and light-duty trucks. This critically-needed standard has the potential to prevent thousands of pedestrian fatalities each year.