New York City Is Finally Getting Raised Crosswalks

[GojiMet86]

Good. Ought to give car drivers second thoughts when they notice they can't race across the intersection.

 

https://www.curbed.com/2022/01/new-york-city-finally-getting-raised-crosswalks.html

 

Quote

 

New York City Is Finally Getting Raised Crosswalks
By Caroline Spivack

JAN. 19, 2022

At the bustling Kensington corner of Caton and Coney Island Avenues, where 26 New Yorkers have been injured by motorists over the last five years, Mayor Eric Adams unveiled a new plan to make 1,000 of the city’s most dangerous intersections safer with traffic-calming measures like new signals and more bike corrals. But what really thrilled some transit advocates about the announcement were two little words: raised crosswalks.

Advocates have for years argued that raising city crosswalks could help bring way down the percentage of traffic injuries that occur at intersections — currently, they’re where nearly 80 percent of the city’s traffic injuries happen. The crosswalks serve the dual purpose of slowing down drivers and making pedestrians more visible. They also make crosswalks more accessible for disabled and aging New Yorkers. The city already has a smattering of them, which double as speed humps, like the one installed in 2018 at the high-traffic intersection of Fort Hamilton Parkway and 59th Street in Sunset Park. But even after eight years of Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero campaign, it’s only now, finally, that raised crosswalks will be installed widely across the city. Adams has ordered the Department of Transportation to begin building them at a rate of 100 a year.

For the upgrades, the new plan will target intersections with repeated traffic deaths and serious injuries. The raised crosswalks will be part of a mix of new measures: Some intersections will get updated turn signals that have head-start signal timing to allow pedestrians to cross before drivers can turn, while 100 new bike corrals will be installed at others to prevent drivers from turning too quickly. Additionally, Adams said the plan will double the efforts of the city’s existing turn-calming program — which adds bollards and other street treatments to intersections to slow turning cars — from 50 to 100 in 2022. Traffic cops will also have more leeway to fine motorists and cyclists who fail to yield to pedestrians within crosswalks.

Adams’s plan comes on the heels of a grim year in traffic-death numbers: 2021 saw more traffic fatalities than any other in de Blasio’s eight-year tenure. Over half of the 122 pedestrians who died in city car crashes in 2021 were killed at intersections. “Last year was a dark period for us,” Adams said. “No matter how much we lean into the Vision Zero, that vision was clouded by the number of deaths that we witnessed in our city.” Today, Adams vowed to “turbo-charge Vision Zero.”

 

 

[Cait Sith]

This is nice and all, but pedestrians also need to be responsible when crossing the street too, especially the one with their face glued to their phone. As an e-bike rider, that's my biggest pet peeve when it comes down to the dynamic of cars vs cyclists vs pedestrians.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

E-bike riders need to stop riding in the sidewalk where they almost run over pedestrians going at the speed of cars. It's ridiculous. When they have bike lanes, they don't use them. They just ride on the sidewalk. I'm happy to see the City finally cracking down on all of it. Out of control.

[Cait Sith]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

E-bike riders need to stop riding in the sidewalk where they almost run over pedestrians going at the speed of cars. It's ridiculous. When they have bike lanes, they don't use them. They just ride on the sidewalk. I'm happy to see the City finally cracking down on all of it. Out of control.

I don't use the bike lanes primarily because of other cyclists. What I wish they would do is actually enforce the one-way bike lane policy. Too many times throughout Manhattan have I encountered cyclists going the opposite direction of the bike lane direction, especially in the more narrow bike lanes. I have also personally seen cyclists getting into accidents and many, many near-misses with other cyclists over that same nonsense. That is actually more annoying to deal with than cars in my opinion, especially south of 34th Street.

Me personally, I generally do not have a problem with vehicles when I'm on my e-Bike. I have more of an issue with other ignorant cyclists, and pedestrians, particularly those that don't look both ways before crossing the street, or has their face glued to their phones while crossing.

Edited January 21, 2022 by Cait Sith

[Via Garibaldi 8]

6 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

I don't use the bike lanes primarily because of other cyclists. What I wish they would do is actually enforce the one-way bike lane policy. Too many times throughout Manhattan have I encountered cyclists going the opposite direction of the bike lane direction, especially in the more narrow bike lanes. I have also personally seen cyclists getting into accidents and many, many near-misses with other cyclists over that same nonsense. That is actually more annoying to deal with than cars in my opinion, especially south of 34th Street.

Me personally, I generally do not have a problem with vehicles when I'm on my e-Bike. I have more of an issue with other ignorant cyclists, and pedestrians, particularly those that don't look both ways before crossing the street, or has their face glued to their phones while crossing.

OMG You can say that again. I see that on 6th Av all the time in Midtown, and I have to say it is incredibly dangerous for both cyclists and pedestrians alike. If you don't look both ways at the speeds some of these guys go at, you can be struck and seriously injured, which is another growing problem, as there just isn't enough time to react at those speeds. Part of the issue is in NYC it is pretty common to step into the street when you are ready to cross, but not into oncoming traffic. That used to be a "safe" practice. The problem now is that they have the bike lanes right there by the curb, so you go to step out out of habit and don't look both ways, there is very little time to react with an e-bike coming along at 20+ mph, and even non e-bikes that come along at high speeds.

The issue I see in the City esp. is people just riding all over the street, even on blocks where there are clearly bike lanes, or they go from the street to the sidewalk and back to the street. It's very disorganized and that too creates unnecessary accidents. This should've been better regulated from the beginning quite frankly with more education by the previous administration, which Adams seems to be focusing on. I mean in Europe, a number of cities have high bike usage, but everyone understands how to follow the rules. No riding in the opposite direction and all of that. I remember I was on Madison Av sometime last year about to step into an Uber that was just pulling up and this guy comes flying in the opposite direction and almost ran me over as I was about to come around and get in and he was totally oblivious to his surroundings. That's another problem. There just isn't enough space for everyone to be self-absorbed and definitely not riding with earbuds or headphones on.

[B35 via Church]

Unsynchronized traffic lights, lowered speed limits, red light cameras, raised crosswalks....

Well folks better prepare themselves for even slower bus speeds, if this latest bit to absolve pedestrian ignorance improve safety becomes more widespread....

22 hours ago, Cait Sith said:

This is nice and all, but pedestrians also need to be responsible when crossing the street too, especially the one with their face glued to their phone. As an e-bike rider, that's my biggest pet peeve when it comes down to the dynamic of cars vs cyclists vs pedestrians.

Being a slave to technology being a sign of the times or not, there's a special place in hell for those that are so caught up in whatever they're checking out on their phone, that they're willing to potentially jeopardize their own safety to do so... I mean as a motorist, you wait at a red light (just short of the crosswalk) & see how (and how many) folks cross the street with their heads down, looking at their phones & you say to yourself, people are looking more & more like zombies out here...

I see people do this shit, walking with their heads down, hyperfocused on their phones, on Marcus ave (which can be a parking lot or a speedway, depending on time of day) coming home from work everyday & it baffles the shit out of me... The nurse types (and other folks in the medical field) that think they're bulletproof because they have the high paying jobs that they do & know people in high places.... Jaywalking like they got an infinite amount of Super Mario Bros. super stars & shit.... I have even seen people (on a few occasions since I've been out here now) having whole arguments with whoever they're screaming at on the phone in the middle of f***ing Marcus av! at 4-5pm in the afternoon, when there's a mass amount of cars turning out of any little lot (I'm between Lakeville rd & NHP rd).... On the yellow line or in between lanes.... Dangerous as shit... The sound of concurrent car horns sounding like Beethoven's 5th is pretty funny though (but not so much when you have an hour+ drive home)....

Can't make this crap up.

[R10 2952]

That, and sometimes I get the impression that pedestrian casualties have gone up not in spite of Vision Zero, but because of it.  All the flurry of excessive traffic-control measures that have been added (beyond what already was in place in the mid-2000s) seem to be making everybody angrier and more prone to road rage.  I don't remember it being this bad 15-18 years ago.