With Two Weeks Left in Session, Members of Families for Safe Streets Disrupt City Council Stated Meeting in Support of Daylighting
Families for Safe Streets members, holding photos of their dead family members, unveiled a “Daylighting Now” banner in City Council chambers.
Intro 1138, which would bring safer intersections to New York City, is co-sponsored by 27 Council Members and the Public Advocate.
Walking home from school is the deadliest time for students. Being struck by a car is the leading cause of injury-related death for New York City children under 14.
The City Council has two weeks to pass universal daylighting before the end of the term.
NEW YORK — With two weeks left of this Council’s term, members of Families for Safe Streets disrupted the City Council’s Stated Meeting in support of universal daylighting. Members unveiled a banner and chanted ‘Daylighting Now.’
Intro 1138, which would bring safer intersections to New York City, is co-sponsored by 27 Council Members and the Public Advocate, but is stalled in the City Council. The bill has majority, bipartisan support, but is still waiting on a vote.
Daylighting is the process of repurposing the curb space closest to an intersection to improve visibility for everyone. Today, most intersections in New York City allow parking all the way up to the crosswalk — meaning pedestrians can’t see drivers, and drivers can’t see pedestrians until they’re in the middle of the road.
Daylighting has been proven to improve safety at intersections. After implementing daylighting, crashes fell 14% in San Francisco. In Hoboken, daylighting resulted in a 30% reduction in pedestrian injuries, and is credited as the chief intervention responsible for eliminating all traffic deaths for over eight years, making Hoboken the first U.S. city to reach Vision Zero. Daylighting is especially important for protecting children from injury and death; it’s even more difficult for drivers to see the smallest pedestrians behind a parked car in an obstructed intersection.
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