Here's something Kafka would love: The City Council wants to force the city to follow state law.
Parking within 20 feet of crosswalks at intersections — already illegal under state law, though the city is exempt — would really be barred under a new bill in the City Council.
The bill by Council Member Julie Won (D–Queens) seeks to bring the proven design to increase visibility to crossings — marked or unmarked — across the five boroughs, a street safety also known as daylighting. The bill would also require the Department of Transportation to "implement daylighting barriers at a minimum of 1,000 intersections per year."
"This year alone, multiple children have been tragically killed by vehicles at intersections in my district. Daylighting saves lives," said Won in a statement.
Advocates celebrated the new push by city lawmakers, which follows a similar piece of legislation at the state level from earlier this year that remains pending.
"New Yorkers everywhere are asking for daylighting, but implementation is painfully slow; popularity is way outpacing DOT’s action," said Jackson Chabot, director of Advocacy and Organizing at Open Plans (which shares a parent company with Streetsblog.
"The city needs bold leadership here and we hope Council Member Won’s bill is the game changer," Chabot added. "We’ve so seen much momentum for daylighting in 2024, so it’s exciting to see even more progress before the year wraps up."
NYC disregards the state daylighting law, but that might change soon! A bill was just introduced that will require DOT to daylight 1000 intersections a year and ensure these spaces are physically protected. Support universal daylighting: https://t.co/hgLXXXhUdz @juliej_won pic.twitter.com/b4O0ma6Czm
— Open Plans (@OpenPlans) December 7, 2024
The 1,000 intersections per year in the bill would still only amount to a fraction of the roughly 40,000 street crossings citywide.
This is crucial in a city where motorists — including those tasked with enforcing the law — routinely ignore mere signs and paint, and DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez has said that daylighting "must be implemented with physical infrastructure," to prevent drivers from cutting the corner too quickly.
Intersections are particularly dangerous for traffic crashes, accounting for 55 percent of pedestrian deaths and 79 percent of pedestrian injuries according to DOT.
Across the river in Hoboken, the city has successfully curbed traffic deaths after aggressively eliminating parking at intersections and installing blockades, even if it's just a flimsy $40 plastic pole.
Advocates have long called on the city to implement universal daylighting, galvanized by a growing grassroots push from community boards and local politicians over the past year.
After an NYPD tow truck driver fatally struck a 7-year-old boy at a poorly daylit corner in Brooklyn last year, Mayor Adams pledged to add daylighting to 1,000 intersections a year, but DOT officials juiced the numbers by counting multiple corners at the same intersections, Streetsblog recently revealed.
The agency released a list of 314 locations that got daylighting treatments through late August, and said in late October it had installed daylighting at 460 locations, covering nearly 400 distinct intersections. But its press office did not respond to multiple requests to provide an updated number this week, just weeks ahead of the end-of-year deadline.
"The city is moving too slowly and has only daylighted 460 intersections in our city this year," Won's statement continued. "This is not enough. The city must implement universal daylighting to protect children and other pedestrians crossing the street."
Update (Dec. 6, 9:45 a.m.): This story has been updated to include comment from Council Member Won.
