January, 2017
The NY Times reports that the Mayor doing the most to reduce vehicle violence tragedies in the nation’s largest city is now being criticized politically:
“After two years of major declines in New York City’s traffic deaths, the number of people killed in crashes dropped slightly last year while pedestrian deaths rose, leading to questions about whether Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ambitious campaign to eliminate traffic fatalities has stalled.
Making streets safer has been near the top of the agenda for Mr. de Blasio, who pledged to cut traffic deaths to zero by 2024. While city officials said traffic deaths were at their lowest level in a century, the uneven results last year suggest that the mayor’s goal will be very difficult to achieve.
The overall number of people killed in traffic crashes, including pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, drivers and passengers, was 229 last year, down from 234 in 2015, according to preliminary data from the city. Pedestrian deaths, which accounted for thelargest share of fatalities, increased last year to 144, from 139 in 2015. Cyclist deaths rose last year to 18, from 14 in 2015.
Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat running for re-election this year, has defended his traffic safety program, known as Vision Zero and modeled after a Swedish plan….
“We are very committed,” Mr. de Blasio said on the cable news channel NY1 this month. “I believe in Vision Zero 110 percent, and now we have three years running where it’s produced better results each year.”
Still, Mr. de Blasio has received broad and diverse criticism. Safety advocates say his administration must move more quickly on street redesigns. Community leaders have denounced proposals for bike lanes and crosswalks when they require removing lanes for cars. State Senator Tony Avella, a Democrat from Queens who is running for mayor, recently called Mr. de Blasio “anti-motorist” and Vision Zero a failure. Even Kellyanne Conway, an adviser to President-elect Donald J. Trump, mocked Mr. de Blasio in November when the said New Yorkers were fearful after the election. “Fearful of the bike lanes?” she quipped.”
Continue reading the main story
This NY City Mayor has been trying to lead in the right direction. We just need to do more and better.
I have written about the importance of visibility especially after Daylight Savings Time ends at http://safetytoolboxtopics.com/Seasonal/end-of-daylight-saving-time-can-be-deadly.html
Lou Lombardo
