so many of these killings are totally avoidable. strict enforcement and lowering of speed limits to 20 mph in the crowded business area of downtown Chappaqua. call it a “People Zone” to get the support of the sign makers.
Tappan Zee bridge killings could also be stopped by strict enforcement of the speed limit. I have been traveling over it a couple times a week recently. I think i am the only vehicle attempting to travel the speed limit during reduced night time visibility. The tractor trailers, the vehicles with the most weight, longest stopping distance, tired drivers and burnt out brakes, continue to travel above 60 mph over the TZ bridge, over 70 mph on the thruway 55 mph zone.

“Eliminating variable speed limits” is the reason given by NYS DOT for its proposal to “straighten the S-curves” on the Henry Hudson Parkway in Ft. Tryon and Inwood Parks. The curves (a traffic-calming innovation of parkways and rare in this city of grids) have posted limits of 35 mph. For safety reasons, DOT wants to bring the whole parkway up to 50 mph buy straightening and widening the road. The West Side Highway below 59th Street (another state road that is part of a waterfront park, Hudson River Park), is 40 mph. Of course there is little correlation between the actual speeds and posted limits on any of these roads. They range from zero in congestion to 100% above. Speeding apparently defies enforcement. Chasing cars is dangerous; there’s no place to pull them over; the state disallows cameras. I have never been able to get an answer as to whose job it is to enforce speeding on state roads in the city.

Reducing the actual speeds on our city streets and park roads will be a great improvement in the quality of life in the city. It can’t be done, however, without REDUCING THE NUMBER OF VEHICLES. If we insist on thinking of congestion in terms of speed, we’re not protecting the interests of city residents, just motorists.

Redesigning autos for safety is a noble thought but I doubt it’s going anywhere. Just look at the battles the car makers have fought against relatively minor increases to fuel economy. There needs to be a major consciousness shift before that happens.

Aaron, a huge part of the problem is that public transport is so bad.

Human-scale transport has the potential to beat automobile technology hands down in safety, energy, environmental impact, cost, adaptability, on top of the facile but extremely crucial capability of being even more distributed and on-demand.

Large “cattle-car” transport (trains, buses, planes) locked to schedules, and massive expensive rigid infrastructures don’t come close and because they currently serve as the only “serious” alternate technology in the developed world, cars continue to dominate.

The rigidity of the MTA is an ongoing serious liability which should immediately start an initiative of reinventing itself just like Microsoft did with the emergence of the internet. Human-scale transport is an important place to begin along with a total revamp of organizational culture and structure.

The scientific prediction is that the storms will get more frequent and worse and like other large public and private organizations, transportation organizations must learn to adapt; and, because transportation is a major cause of emissions producing the climate change crisis, they must learn to greatly mitigate emissions by 90% or better.

There is nothing that can do this except human-scale and hybrid human-powered transport and there is no reason to perceive this change as causing hardship. Most likely, the benefits will be immediate and profound.

Smith, Subway trains weigh hundreds of tons. Cars usually weigh a ton or more and usually only transport a single person. Bicycles usually weigh under 50 pounds. Skates and small scooters weigh less. Walking weighs nothing. Hundreds of millions of people in Asia and Africa commute by bicycle. Everyone who uses a subway uses a significant amount of human energy to get here, to go up and down stairs, stand in stations and trains, etc.

Small rural human-scale monorails need not entail much more than putting up fences through forests or guard rails on the sides of already existing roads and was done more than 100 years ago. Large complicated uban human-scale monorail systems can use tiers, be made modular, and achieve very high transport densities when required. A lot can be done with a small fraction of the $2 billion per mile it costs to build the Second Avenue Subway.

I’ve been taking the subway well over 40 years, take it all the time, and agree with the mayor. Those times when I travel when the subways are empty cost the city much more than the most expensive limousine. It’s the best that it’s ever been but I still prefer not having to wait for a train, being above ground in the sunlight or under the stars, and even in bad weather it can be fun, exhilarating, and highly preferrable.

If you enjoy traveling like a rat so be it. Like those who embrace their captors, people get used to doing a lot of stuff even though they are the hard ways to do things. Cars are one way. Subways are another.

The “pedestrian, 61 killed on the way to Starbucks” in Chappaqua was a dear, dear friend who I love/loved very much….Greg Cook. One of the sweetest, kindest people I have ever had the pleasure to have in my life. His daughter is a volunteer firefighter in Chappaqua and had the unfortunate call of going to the accident scene. God bless you, Greg.