Transportation Alternatives

On Saturday, over 50 people, including several local electeds and candidates, joined bereaved family members for a memorial march in honor of pedestrians killed on Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen.

CHEKPEDS, the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association and Transportation Alternatives will hold a march tomorrow in honor of pedestrians killed on Ninth Avenue. The march will begin at 2:00 p.m. on the west side of Ninth at 45th Street and will proceed to 36th Street. Along the way, commemorative plaques will be installed for six pedestrians killed by cars in recent years: Randolph Walker, Nina Petrov, Douglas Dibble, Fabiola Grande-Coyotl, Sabina Paradi, and most recent victim Susanne M. Schnitzer.

We just received this urgent S.O.S. from Transportation Alternatives to people living or working near Smith and 9th Streets in Brooklyn:

The city's expanding bike network is paying dividends -- boosting the level of cycling and making streets safer in the process. Snagged from the latest issue of TA's StreetBeat, this graph is a great illustration of the "safety in numbers" effect identified by researcher Peter Jacobsen in a landmark 2003 paper published in Injury Prevention. The stats in New York reinforce Jacobsen's body of evidence that the more bicyclists and pedestrians are out on the street, the safer biking and walking become.

With NYPD Chief of Transportation Michael Scagnelli working his last day on the job today, his exit is marked by reflections on his stint at the post, speculation on who might replace him, and hope that his successor will build on his traffic safety initiatives.