The Grand Concourse in the Bronx has long been an intimidating pedestrian and bicycle environment. Following several years of "Vision Zero" street safety improvements, however, this June will mark more than two years without any street deaths — down from an all-time high of 15 deaths in 1992. It's time to extend these benefits to the whole city.
“The more the city redesigns its intersections, the more residents and visitors benefit.”
Vision Zero is a city program of street-safety engineering and traffic enforcement, with the goal of eliminating traffic deaths. In practice, it reduces injuries and deaths by simplifying complex intersections, narrowing traffic lanes, adding bicycle paths, shortening pedestrian-crossing distances, re-timing traffic lights, adding speed and red-light cameras, and installing "leading pedestrian intervals" to give pedestrians a head start before drivers turn into the crosswalk.
In a new report for the Manhattan Institute, I find that Vision Zero works. Intersections receiving these Department of Transportation safety treatments have indeed seen 40% fewer bicycle and pedestrian deaths since the 2009-2013 period before Vision Zero, while intersections that haven't received these redesigns saw a 7% increase in deaths over the same period.
The more the city redesigns its intersections, the more residents and visitors benefit. Neighborhoods receiving double or more the city average of street-safety work saw declines in deaths of 10% to 25% over same.
Unfortunately, lower-income neighborhoods were....
Read the entire piece here at New York Daily News
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Alex Armlovich is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of the new report, Poverty and Progress in New York City XI: Vision Zero and Traffic Safety. Follow him on Twitter here.
This piece originally appeared in New York Daily News