The city DOT returned to Queens last week to introduce the first of its Vision Zero plans to protect pedestrians in the borough. The mayor’s initiative was launched in Queens a year ago after a series of high-profile deaths made pedestrian safety a top priority in the county.
The Queens plan was developed by DOT officials, who drew on public workshops, 28 town hall meetings, 10,000 comments from New Yorkers and data analysis.
In the plan, the DOT has singled out 47 corridors, which account for only 6 percent of Queens streets but are the scene of half of the borough’s pedestrian injuries and deaths.
A total of 72 dangerous intersections have been identified as well as 17 square miles where crashes harming pedestrians are likely to occur.
“Queens is a challenge,” DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg conceded when she unveiled the plan.
Flushing, Elmhurst and Jamaica were cited as particularly risky areas for people on foot.
Lawmakers welcomed the Pedestrian Safety Plan and the accompanying map, which pinpoints the areas that pose the greatest perils.
The NYPD is collaborating with the DOT on the new initiative, which needs the police to add their muscle to the ambitious program. The redesign/engineering phase will involve expanding the time for pedestrians to cross busy thoroughfares, reworking signal timing to cut down on speeding and the installation of more safety cameras.
It is gratifying to see the city follow through as promised on its Vision Zero plan for Queens, which too often has been waiting hat in hand for the second phase of major efforts to materialize.
In the first year of Vision Zero, Queens deaths dropped markedly from an average of 43 pedestrians killed in the 2011-2013 period, the DOT said. Injuries also declined.
But pedestrians still are dying on Queens streets.
A woman was mowed down Sunday in Woodside. Several Queens lawmakers immediately pushed for legislation sponsored by state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) that would make it a felony if a driver kills or seriously injures others and does not have a valid license. The driver’s vehicle would be impounded.
The senator first introduced the legislation in 2013 when a third grader was killed by an unlicensed truck driver in Woodside and again the next year when a woman in Maspeth was killed by a man with a suspended license.
We urge Albany to pass this bill as the logical complement to Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero for Queens.
