Vision Zero
Streetsblog Basics
New Families For Safe Streets Campaign Defends Right of Way Law
Families For Safe Streets released videos and posters this morning defending the Right of Way Law, in response to a campaign by Transport Workers Union Local 100, which wants MTA bus drivers exempted from the law.
April 30, 2015
Vision Zero Progress Report Fails to Measure Impact of Vision Zero Policies
Earlier this week, City Hall released an update on the first year of Vision Zero [PDF]. With 90 pages of charts, stats, maps, and graphs, it's impressively long. But how well does it measure the impact of the city's street safety policies?
April 24, 2015
A Bus Design Flaw Is No Reason to Gut the Right of Way Law
As part of its campaign to make it legal for bus drivers to injure and kill people, the Transport Workers Union says flawed bus design is to blame for bus drivers hitting pedestrians while turning.
April 23, 2015
De Blasio: Everyone in This City Has to Yield to Pedestrians
At the press event today announcing the de Blasio administration update to NYC's citywide sustainability plan (now called "OneNYC" -- more on that soon!), the mayor fielded a question about bus design and whether bus drivers can be expected to spot and avoid striking pedestrians in crosswalks. The unspoken subtext was the Transport Workers Union campaign to carve out an exemption for MTA bus drivers in the city's Right of Way Law, which makes it a misdemeanor for drivers to injure people walking or biking with the right of way.
April 22, 2015
Rangel: Let’s Allow Bus Drivers to Kill People With the Right of Way
Congressman Charlie Rangel condemned the Right of Way Law earlier this week, joining the Transport Workers Union to argue that the law should allow MTA bus drivers to kill people who have the right of way.
April 22, 2015
Will de Blasio and Mark-Viverito Back Effort to Fully Fund Vision Zero?
City Hall will have to double its commitment to street redesigns that prioritize safety in order to dramatically reduce traffic deaths on NYC's most dangerous streets in our lifetimes, advocates say. That level of spending could be accomplished with a relatively small shift in resources in the city's total capital budget.
April 16, 2015
City Council Regresses on Street Safety, Weighs Fines for Cyclists
Less than a year ago, the City Council overwhelmingly passed a raft of bills designed to protect New Yorkers from reckless driving. Was it the beginning of a new era, where street safety is taken seriously by city legislators, or was it a fluke? The council could go either way, based on a transportation committee hearing today that considered a new bill to fight the phantom menace of cyclists on cell phones.
April 15, 2015
New Organization Sets Out to Raise the Standard for “Vision Zero” Cities
Vision Zero -- the idea that we should no longer accept traffic deaths and serious injuries -- is gaining momentum as a framework for thinking about city streets and transportation, as more American cities adopt the goal of ending traffic fatalities.
April 13, 2015