Life-Saving Truck Design Fix Sidelined By Federal Inaction
This is the second post in a series about safety features for large vehicles. Part one examined the case for truck side guards and New York City's attempt to require them for its fleet.
December 22, 2014
Eyes on the Street: Super-Sized Ped Space at Deadly Sixth and Houston
Jessica Dworkin, 58, was on a push scooter at Sixth Avenue at Houston Street when a tractor-trailer truck driver turned into her path and crushed her in August 2012. After Dworkin's death, local residents clamored for safety fixes. Now more than two years later, and 18 months after proposing the changes to Manhattan Community Board 2, DOT is putting finishing touches on expansions to pedestrian space and changes to traffic signals in a bid to prevent future tragedies [PDF].
December 19, 2014
TLC Still Has No Plan to Require NYC Road Tests for Taxi and Livery Drivers
The Taxi and Limousine Commission will close a loophole that allows livery drivers to operate with less training than yellow cab drivers, but the agency still has no plans to require road tests on actual New York City streets for any of the drivers it licenses.
December 18, 2014
The Simple Change to Truck Design That Can Save Lives
When someone is struck by a turning truck driver in New York City, the worst injuries are typically caused when the vehicle's back wheels run over the victim. Amar Diarrassouba, Ngozi Agbim, Noshat Nahian, Jessica Dworkin, and Renee Thompson were among the New Yorkers run over by the rear wheels of large trucks in recent years.
December 18, 2014
So Far Suburban Opposition to Safety Cameras Isn’t Playing in NYC
Well, that was quick. Two nascent safety camera programs on Long Island have been shut down, despite demonstrable success in Nassau, after elected officials turned tail in response to complaints from law-breaking motorists. Meanwhile, red light cameras in New Jersey were turned off this week after that state's five-year demonstration failed to secure renewal in the legislature.
December 17, 2014
Eyes on the Street: Dodging Drivers on the Sidewalk
Heads up, New Yorkers. You never know when your neighborhood sidewalk will turn into a construction detour for motorists.
December 17, 2014
Public Support for NYC Toll Reform Highest in the Suburbs
Since March, Move New York has made the case that its traffic reduction and transit funding plan can succeed in Albany. Proposing to raise car tolls in the transit-rich but congested Manhattan core while lowering them in more distant, car-dependent parts of town, Move NY seeks to avoid the political pitfalls that have sunk road pricing in the state capitol before. So how do the voters feel about this plan?
December 16, 2014