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Clarence Eckerson

StreetFilm: Crosswalks #1

4:45 PM EST on January 18, 2008


From StreetFilms' Clarence Eckerson Jr.:

With all the great achievements that are abounding in the livable streets movement, sometimes we need to revisit reality. Recently, I stumbled upon a cache of traffic b-roll I was gathering during the summer of cars infringing on pedestrian rights. I'll gamble we've all seen worse scenes, probably daily, but it just got me a little mad.

So to our leaders who are debating - and frankly many throwing up roadblocks to - congestion pricing: take a look and stop worrying about the fraction of NYC drivers you are protecting. It's obvious - a serious congestion pricing plan would definitely benefit pedestrians and alleviate some of the everyday, dangerous gridlock we navigate.

Please note: every shot in this montage is while the pedestrian has the right of way. And yeah, as bad as this footage is, New Yorkers know it is only the tip of the everyday iceberg. If we really wanted to, we could shoot one of these per day and post them. Thus, this gets the "#1" in the title.

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