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Vision Zero debuts in Queens


Harry

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In the city’s first major traffic safety upgrade under Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero plan, a Woodside intersection will see dramatic changes, the Daily News has learned. Three months after an unlicensed tractor trailer driver ran over an 8-year-old boy on his way to school, the city has stepped up protective measures and introduced plans for several more at Northern Boulevard and 61st Street. The improvements will increase visibility for drivers, make it easier for pedestrians to cross the six-lane roadway and alter rules at the bustling intersection, said Dalila Hall, borough commisioner for the Department of Transportation.

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As a driver, this is good to see. I actually avoid driving in Queens a lot due to the huge intersections and crazy timings of the traffic lights in that borough.

Hell I was raised there and on Queens Blvd at places it is ten lanes wide and pedestrians have to jump island to island as the light changes before they have finished crossing. The lights were screwed up 50 years ago and are still screwed up. Nothing ever seems to change for the better.

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If they want to increase pedestrian safety, then they need to be educated on how to cross the street properly and the implications of not knowing how to cross the street properly.
I've been saying that fo years... it's like, some people just have a death wish.
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If they want to increase pedestrian safety, then they need to be educated on how to cross the street properly and the implications of not knowing how to cross the street properly.

 

The 8-year-old boy who was killed by the unlicensed truck driver was crossing the street with the light.

 

If drivers knew that they were required to yield to pedestrians when turning, and if they knew they'd be penalized for failing to yield, then perhaps they'd yield, and Noshat Nahian might still be with us today. But, in practice, either they don't know that they're required to yield or they know that the law is almost never enforced, and many blow right through crosswalks without yielding.

 

But I guess it's easier to blame the victim.

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The 8-year-old boy who was killed by the unlicensed truck driver was crossing the street with the light.

 

If drivers knew that they were required to yield to pedestrians when turning, and if they knew they'd be penalized for failing to yield, then perhaps they'd yield, and Noshat Nahian might still be with us today. But, in practice, either they don't know that they're required to yield or they know that the law is almost never enforced, and many blow right through crosswalks without yielding.

 

But I guess it's easier to blame the victim.

 

Not really.  What is forgotten is the child wasn't taught by his parents the proper way to cross and given the judgement skills.  You can have the right of way and get squished or yield it and not be.  It isn't just giving tickets to drivers or how many jaywalking tickets are given out  as the City would make a fortune but the common(uncommon) sense to know when you don't use the right.  To assume the driver is fully at fault may not be the case even if unlicensed as he may never had a license or missed renewing it. He wasn't suspended which is caused by big problems.  The whole gambit of traffic laws are routinely violated in any city to keep traffic flowing.  It is all the contributing factors involved which are not given but only the headlines in the story. In all accidents somebody screwed up, who at this time is unknown. 

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Not really.  What is forgotten is the child wasn't taught by his parents the proper way to cross and given the judgement skills.  You can have the right of way and get squished or yield it and not be.  It isn't just giving tickets to drivers or how many jaywalking tickets are given out  as the City would make a fortune but the common(uncommon) sense to know when you don't use the right.  To assume the driver is fully at fault may not be the case even if unlicensed as he may never had a license or missed renewing it. He wasn't suspended which is caused by big problems.  The whole gambit of traffic laws are routinely violated in any city to keep traffic flowing.  It is all the contributing factors involved which are not given but only the headlines in the story. In all accidents somebody screwed up, who at this time is unknown. 

 

Amazing how you're trying to stick up for the truck driver. He was in blatant violation of two driving laws, one of which requires motorists to yield to pedestrians crossing legally while turning. In violating that law, he killed a pedestrian - an 8-year-old, no less.

 

Perhaps you find it acceptable to lose lives in order to "keep traffic flowing," but I don't.

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He was in blatant violation of two driving laws, one of which requires motorists to yield to pedestrians crossing legally while turning. In violating that law, he killed a pedestrian - an 8-year-old, no less.

 

1st law, yes but really, almost 80% of New Yorkers do not follow this law. Nor does pedestrians follow their law of following crosswalk signals.

 

2nd Law, definitely in violation.

 

Overall, yes, agreed.

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Amazing how you're trying to stick up for the truck driver. He was in blatant violation of two driving laws, one of which requires motorists to yield to pedestrians crossing legally while turning. In violating that law, he killed a pedestrian - an 8-year-old, no less.

 

Perhaps you find it acceptable to lose lives in order to "keep traffic flowing," but I don't.

How do you know that even he saw the 8 year old?? He was in a truck and children are short, the child may have been in a blind spot, and may have crossed as the truck was turning in the same direction. Yes, he was unlicensed but, you have licensed drivers that don't know how to merge, get on to highways,and are a major cause of congestion and accidents etc, A lack of a license does not mean that someone does not know how to drive properly. 

 

A couple of months ago I was driving in Manhattan and was about to make a right turn while no one was in the crosswalk when a lady standing at the corner looking around  like she was finding her bearings decided to waltz into the street blindly, I don't even know if she saw the walk signal. Now, if I was in a higher vehicle, like a TRUCK, where the pedestrian might not be clearly seen through the passenger door window, I might not have seen her.

 

It's clear that you don't drive.

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Amazing how you're trying to stick up for the truck driver. He was in blatant violation of two driving laws, one of which requires motorists to yield to pedestrians crossing legally while turning. In violating that law, he killed a pedestrian - an 8-year-old, no less.

 

Perhaps you find it acceptable to lose lives in order to "keep traffic flowing," but I don't.

I'll try and explain this simply.  I was a cop for 30  years  and had to reconstruct fatal accidents more than a few times.  Nothing is cut and dry except the results. Parties on both sides made mistakes.  If the driver knowingly ran over the kid then its aggravated manslaughter at the least and murder at the worst but he wasn't charged with that.  How many people know the expiration dates on their licenses much less their credit cards without looking but we know when they send the replacements or renewals.  If you are familiar with traffic law then go to Manhattan or other busy area and watch the traffic for 5 or 10 minutes  and count the number of violations which occur to keep flowing of traffic.  Failure to keep right and passing on the right would top the list.  What you had was a tabloid story of the results not what really happened.  

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How do you know that even he saw the 8 year old?? He was in a truck and children are short, the child may have been in a blind spot, and may have crossed as the truck was turning in the same direction. Yes, he was unlicensed but, you have licensed drivers that don't know how to merge, get on to highways,and are a major cause of congestion and accidents etc, A lack of a license does not mean that someone does not know how to drive properly. 

 

A couple of months ago I was driving in Manhattan and was about to make a right turn while no one was in the crosswalk when a lady standing at the corner looking around  like she was finding her bearings decided to waltz into the street blindly, I don't even know if she saw the walk signal. Now, if I was in a higher vehicle, like a TRUCK, where the pedestrian might not be clearly seen through the passenger door window, I might not have seen her.

 

It's clear that you don't drive.

 

Trucks in New York City are required to have crossover mirrors that cover their blind spots, including those that provide visibility for the front and passenger side. Given that about once a month or so there's a truck that gets stuck in on a low-clearance bridge or on the parkways, a truck driver not checking his mirrors is not exactly out of the ordinary.

 

If NYPD were not to be so obstructionist with FOIL requests regarding crash investigations and publishing crash data, people would be more inclined to trust them. Seriously, how can you defend not publishing crash location data on the basis of "the public wouldn't be able to comprehend it?"

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  • 2 weeks later...

Now the Vision Zero policy has expanded to the Grand Concourse in the Bronx reducing the speed to 25 MPH from 30 MPH after 12 fatalities over a four year period approximately were brought up for re-investigation. They are enforcing speed restriction rules from 140th Street to Mosholu Parkway in the Bronx with resyncronized traffic signals as an additional precaution.

 

I used to live by Fordham Road and the GC. Its hard to say if the main reason for these accidents in the Bronx concerning the GC that has occurred is really because of drivers caught speeding, tailgating, running red lights, or because of pedestrian jaywalking or actually all these factors. I've seen all sorts of violations on both the part of driver and pedestrian as a ex-Bronx redident right by the GC to tell you the truth so that is debatable.

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