Vision Zero

Two days before a mass demonstration and bike ride to demand more action from the de Blasio administration to prevent cyclist deaths, the mayor and DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg made a media play that seems designed to deflect pressure, announcing that the city is on track to build a record 18 miles of protected bike lanes this year.

Appearing with WNYC's Brian Lehrer for his weekly "Ask the Mayor" segment this morning, Mayor de Blasio said the city's Vision Zero effort is "still in its infancy" and that "there's a lot more to do." The remarks come at a time when the city's two-year run of reducing traffic deaths seems increasingly unlikely to continue in 2016.

DOT removed pedestrian islands on Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights yesterday, undoing years of street safety advocacy work on the part of local residents and community board members with no public process, and no one in the de Blasio administration is taking responsibility.

NYPD filed no charges and issued no summonses after a driver struck and killed Michael Schenkman, 78, while he biked on Northern Boulevard in Bayside.

The primary benefits of the Move NY toll reform plan are reducing congestion and funding transit -- but don't overlook the huge potential to improve street safety.

Split-phase traffic signals protect pedestrians and cyclists by separating them from turning drivers -- people walking and biking across the street get their own signal phase, and drivers turning into the crosswalk get another. Research indicates that split-phase signals are highly effective at preventing traffic injuries and deaths. But when DOT revealed its strategy to reduce crashes caused by left-turning drivers, there was no commitment to increase the use of split-phase signals.

DOT will be ramping up the use of intersection treatments to protect pedestrians and cyclists from left-turning drivers, the agency announced today. The initiative is paired with a DOT study, "Don't Cut Corners" [PDF], that illustrates the disproportionate danger of left turns. Mayor de Blasio had announced in January that reducing the risk of left turns would be a focus of his administration's Vision Zero agenda this year.

Since the launch of Vision Zero more than two years ago, NYPD has yet to develop a comprehensive strategy to target dangerous driver behaviors that are known to cause most injuries and deaths. To the contrary, a new Transportation Alternatives report finds that NYPD enforcement often targets the people most vulnerable to traffic violence, while motorist violations like speeding, failure to yield, and even leaving the scene of a crash go unchecked.

As City Hall staffers work on improvements to Vision Zero View, hopefully they're taking cues from Transport for London’s collision map.