The intersection at 96th and West End Avenue was discussed during the meeting (Google Maps)
Community Board 7’s latest Transportation Committee meeting focused on an hour-long discussion about left-hand turn traffic signals and their impact on pedestrian and cyclist safety. The conversation centered on changing the “phasing” of these signals—how they operate—so that vehicles turning left and pedestrians crossing the street would no longer move at the same time.
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“You have the illusion of safety and [then] all of a sudden there’s a car bearing down [on you], and so it’s to separate the two users,” said Transportation Committee member Ken Coughlin about eliminating left turns when pedestrians have the right of way. Coughlin shared a personal connection to the issue, describing his experience navigating the intersection of West 97th Street and Central Park West—a location he called “really, really scary, particularly at night.” He admitted to running across this intersection but emphasized that no one should have to. “What this resolution proposes is that the city create, in at least every intersection on the Upper West Side, what we’re calling protected left turns, which means that it would be impossible to have a situation where a pedestrian has a walk signal and can legally cross at the same time that a driver can legally make a left turn.”
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CB7 invited Jeff Smithline, whose title is “Practice Managing, Traffic Engineering” at TYLin, Sam Schwartz City Solutions. According to its LinkedIn page, the “global engineering firm” is known for “design[ing] infrastructure solutions that connect and elevate communities.” In his brief exploratory-level assessment, Smithline stated, “At the very basic level, eliminating left-turn conflicts with pedestrians and crosswalks is obviously a safer thing to do than not doing that.” However, he also cautioned that implementing such changes would come with trade-offs, including impacts on parking and driving.
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“I can’t personally recommend where it makes sense. You know, this stuff would have to be studied,” said Smithline, referencing the intersection at West 96th Street and West End Avenue. “You can make an eastbound left or a westbound left, because West End is two-way, but there aren’t striped left-turn lanes there.” He explained that implementing phased signals at this location would require turning the left lane—currently a through lane that allows left turns—into an exclusive left-turn lane. “That means you’re eliminating one of your through lanes. So again, there are trade-offs that could back up eastbound and westbound traffic really far, right?”
The proposed resolution presented at the meeting highlighted that “378 people have been injured in traffic crashes in our district over the past year—an average of more than one a day, two of whom died.” It also referenced a DOT study showing that pedestrians and bicyclists are more than three times as likely to be killed or seriously injured by a left-turning driver than by a right-turning one—19 percent of deaths or serious injuries are caused by left turns, compared to 6 percent by right turns. Additionally, the DOT found that senior citizens are disproportionately more likely to be injured or killed by left-turning vehicles: the average age of victims in left-turn crashes is 67, compared to 50 for victims of right-turn crashes.
The resolution outlined three core reasons why left-hand turns are more dangerous than right turns:
- Left turns can be taken at a wider radius, leading to higher speeds and increased pedestrian exposure, which raises the likelihood of death or severe injury.
- Driver visibility is partially obscured by parked cars and the vehicle’s A-pillar.
- Left turns are more complex than right turns and require greater mental and physical effort, referred to by the DOT as “driver workload.” The DOT defines this as “the split-second decision-making based on a complex series of mental and physical tasks a driver must execute to perform a traffic maneuver.”
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The committee spent significant time discussing the best course of action, debating whether to pursue a resolution, a letter to the DOT, or perhaps both. In March 2021, CB7 passed a resolution requesting that the DOT make protected turn phase signals the norm—rather than the rare exception—at every intersection where left turns are allowed, starting with the ten most dangerous intersections. At the time, CB7 referred to this as “split phase” signaling, though the committee later admitted the term was somewhat of a misnomer. The resolution, described as having considerable nuance, elicited no response from the DOT.
DOT representative Colleen Chattergood, who attended the meeting remotely, said the DOT could analyze data to help identify the top five most dangerous intersections on the Upper West Side. The NYC Crash Mapper site, where the city’s collision data is uploaded when it becomes available, was brought up in the dialogue. Chattergood said it would take “90 to 30 days,” a peculiar way to phrase it, to get a response from the DOT, but committee members reminded themselves that they got no response in 2021, so they wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again.
After more debate on next steps, committee member Carey Alexander, a partner at Clarkson Law Firm, said “It sounds like the most effective thing for us to do is take them up on that offer immediately.” Alexander pushed the committee to send a letter to the DOT asking for a list of the Upper West Side’s five most dangerous intersections. “At that point, we’ve retained our leverage, and we can write a much stronger resolution [in the meantime].” Alexander felt if the committee passed the current resolution, it would give up their leverage, “…and we’re going to be here in 2030 saying, why didn’t they do anything with the 2025 resolution?”
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The resolution received 5 votes in favor, 4 opposed, and 2 abstained, which ultimately dealt a blow to the resolution’s passage, as it did not have enough of a majority to pass. So, despite having more votes in favor, the resolution failed.
The committee discussed the urgency of getting this letter to the DOT sooner rather than later. You can read the full resolution that was discussed here. It’s possible the initiative currently being discussed, if approved, could lead to more such changes around the entire city.
CB7’s next full board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 4, at 6:30 p.m.
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Thank you for your coverage of this important issue. However, the proposed resolution calls for protected left turns only at intersections where left-turning drivers must navigate through oncoming traffic, which makes it less likely they will be aware of crossing pedestrians. (Also, it’s “Chattergoon,” not “Chattergood”.)