Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
DOT

“Midtown in Motion” to Come With Rad Driver-Distracting Apps

As it is, the NYC DOT “Midtown in Motion" initiative is a bit of a head-scratcher. To learn that the city is devoting well over a million dollars in addition to staff resources to speed up car traffic in Midtown, which the mayor has declared the "lifeblood" of the CBD -- is it 2006 again?

Here's another jaw-dropping facet of the program, as reported in the Times:

[City engineers] also plan to offer this data to software developers so that drivers and passengers can gain access to this detailed information on their iPads or iPhones.

Distracted driving is a known killer, an epidemic so widespread and pernicious that it even has Albany's attention. You've got to wonder about the logic behind encouraging drivers to pilot their two-ton missiles through streets teeming with pedestrians while not looking where they're going.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Stockholm Leader’s Message to NYC: ‘Congestion Pricing Just Works’

"In Stockholm, people really thought that congestion pricing would be the end of the world, the city will come to a standstill, no one would be able to get to work anymore and all the theaters and shops would just go bankrupt. None of that happened."

May 3, 2024

Friday’s Headlines: Trump Trial Trumps Safety Edition

Is anyone going to bother to fix the dangerous mess on the streets and plazas around the Trump trial? Plus more news.

May 3, 2024

Adams Offers Bare Minimum to Seize Congestion Pricing’s ‘Space Dividend’ Opportunity

The mayor's list of projects supposedly meant to harness congestion pricing's expected reduction in traffic is mostly old news, according to critics.

May 2, 2024

OPINION: Congestion Pricing Will Help My Family Get Around As We Navigate Cancer Treatment

My partner was recently diagnosed with cancer. Congestion pricing will make getting her to treatment faster and easier.

May 2, 2024
See all posts