Zeroing in on ‘Vision Zero’ in Queens

By ALEXANDRA STEVENS

The New York City Department of Transportation unveiled a new pedestrian safety action plan in Queens on Tuesday, aiming to do even better than last year’s record low in pedestrian deaths.

A panel of officials addressed an audience at Hammond P.S. 82 in Jamaica, detailing the latest in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero program, a long-term initiative created to combat citywide traffic accidents. DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg announced over 50 upcoming projects, with ten to twelve of those set to take place in Queens. The upcoming proposals are a combination of engineering, planning, and awareness, including redesigning intersections, changing signal timing, and collaborating with communities to improve engagement.

“We eat and breathe safety,” said DOT Deputy Commissioner RyanRusso to Trottenberg with a smile, “and you and Mayor de Blasio have really helped us up our game.”

Public input has helped the DOT compile interactive maps of city traffic, highlighting problem areas and common complaints, organizers said. Corridors and intersections are ranked by serious injuries and fatalities on a per mile basis, with accident-heavy areas like Jamaica Avenue and Metropolitan Avenue highlighted in red. Forty-four percent of the problems pinpointed by community dialogue concerned speeding and failure to yield to pedestrians, two major targets that plan seeks to combat. Police Chief Thomas Chan, head of the police Transportation Bureau, said that the department has recently increased speeding enforcement by 48 percent. Over 3,000 speed limit signs were scheduled be added throughout the city by the end of 2015, part of the citywide 25-mile-per-hour speed limit that was put into effect late last year.

Russo stressed the importance of awareness and education. Russo said one out of five pedestrian fatalities occurred between midnight and 6 a.m., when there was less traffic and drivers weren’t expecting anyone on the road. Officials hoped to reduce these accidents by increasing leading pedestrian intervals at crosswalks and installing pedestrian islands.

Councilman Peter Koo, who has been referred to as the “Mayor of Flushing,” represents an area with some of the highest pedestrian density in the city. Koo pointed out that the ubiquitous hats and hoods of wintertime can effect visibility, reminding us that something as simple as looking both ways before you cross the street could save a life.

Though the new action plan focuses mainly on pedestrians, measures were also being taken to protect the city’s two-wheeled travelers. Organizers said that he DOT would collaborate with the police and Department of Health of update the city’s cyclist injury study, as well as to conduct their first motorcyclist safety study. The plan also called for installing 50 miles of bike lanes throughout the city.