On January 19, a new traffic law went into effect across New York City that Upper West Siders should be aware of.
There are over 1,200 intersections in the city that aren’t governed by pedestrian or traffic signals, and until two weeks ago drivers and cyclists were only required to yield to pedestrians at these crossings. Now, however, they are required to come to a full stop.
The new rule is part of a broader push that Mayor Adams announced to improve pedestrian safety throughout the city after an especially deadly 2021. Speaking about the city’s plan to reduce traffic fatalities, the mayor said, “After the tragedy of 2021, when traffic fatalities in New York City reached their highest level in nearly a decade, we clearly need to turbo-charge Vision Zero — and fast.”
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Crashes at intersections make up 50 percent of fatalities and 70 percent of all injuries on New York’s streets, but pedestrians are at elevated danger; 55 percent of their fatalities and 79 percent of their injuries happen at intersections.
Upper West Siders will have noticed a steadily changing streetscape in their neighborhood recently, all part of the city’s efforts to calm traffic and make streets safer and more useful for everyone. These include, but aren’t limited to, car lane removal and narrowing, extended curbs for pedestrians, and pedestrian islands in medians and crosswalks. You can see all of these changes along Amsterdam Avenue between 59th and 72nd Streets, or along Central Park West and its ever-evolving bike lane.
While anyone can look up a map of Vision Zero-related projects throughout UWS via the city’s open data portal, Google Maps Street View shows exactly how much improvement has taken place. For example, a bike lane and several traffic calming measures have been introduced at the intersection of West 66th Street and Amsterdam; if you click on the clock icon in Street View’s upper-left corner, you can see the same intersection across time, and you’ll also see those measures disappear as soon as you jump back one snapshot.
Kudos to Mayor Adams for addressing this issue. One heads-up to long-time NYC pedestrians: with more and more vehicle turning lanes and green light arrows do not jaywalk when traffic is not visible or audible (especially all electrics and hybrids) from North/South. The East/West cars turn legally where we used to walk with impunity. Don’t count on “They have to always yield to pedestrians,” an argument you can make from the hospital or cemetery.
I hope for a name change from”Vision Zero” to something not oxymoronic.
The 66th street and Amsterdam intersection needs closer evaluation. Today, I was crossing that corner and a car was making the left turn on to 66th street when he had a red left turn arrow because he misread the green bike light as a light for him to turn. This is not the first time that I have seen this happen. Posted turning signage is nonexistent. All turning information is painted in the traffic lanes. Better visible overhead signage is definitely needed at this intersection
Another problem is created because many times there are vehicles illegally parked in one of the left turn only lanes on Amsterdam. The vehicles are made up of FD personnel or during the week there are school bus vans that double park starting at 65th street and go all the way up to 68th street and Amsterdam, where there is a school. What has also made this intersection terrible is the endless work that ConEd has undertaken both at this intersection and on West End Ave between 65-66 street. It seems that ConEd has carte blanche to tear up these streets whenever they want and then take forever to finish their work. They have been on West End now for at least 3 months and nobody knows when it will end.
Since traffic fatalities went UP after having “Vision Zero” for a few years, maybe we should rethink the way we’re approaching this? There have been many public campaigns to make drivers more aware of safety. That’s good. But has any consideration been given to ALSO having campaigns for cyclists and pedestrians? How about telling cyclists to obey traffic laws? How about asking pedestrians to only cross at intersections and to not be staring at their phones when crossing the street?
Drivers can be more careful, but there will always be mistakes. An unaware pedestrian or cyclist ignoring the light can turn a driver’s mistake fatal.
When I was a kid, the commercials said “Look both ways when crossing the street”; “Cross at the green, not in between.” How about bringing that back?
Mr. del Bene is absolutely correct. Vision Zero is a disaster. The 5-7 second delay at intersections causes confusion all the way around. The city needs to completely rethink its approach and not “double-down” on a system that has failed.
If 45% of pedestrian deaths happen when people don’t cross at intersections, ticket people cross in the middle of the block. Ticket people who cross the street whilst staring at their phone. Most pedestrian deaths are caused by the pedestrian..
confusion? you are confused, you mean?
red = stop
green = go
what does timing have to do with it?
Agree with Jeff. That 5-7 second delay is very helpful in avoiding pedestrians getting hit. No idea how it can be “confusing.”
Sorry, I meant Geoff.