Mayor de Blasio and the Department of Transportation announced Thursday that the city will double down on traffic enforcement in the coming weeks as the sun continues to set earlier and earlier. The $1.5 million crackdown is a response to city data showing that pedestrians and cyclists are at greater risk of being struck and seriously injured by drivers in the fall and winter, when dusk and darkness coincide with evening rush hour.
The average number of pedestrian fatalities per month has historically lingered between 14 and 16 from September to January, compared to between 8 and 12 fatalities per month the rest of the year. Last year, the city said, 40 percent of the total 134 pedestrian fatalities took place after October 1st.
"Every driver needs to learn about the limited visibility of this season and the dangers of fast turns, especially in the evening hours," said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg in a statement.
Precincts will dispatch more cops to crash-prone intersections around sunset, focusing on violations like speeding, failure to yield, and DWI. The DOT will also run new radio ads around dusk urging drivers to make slow turns, yield to pedestrians when making left turns, and avoid speeding. Early tomorrow morning, cops and DOT teams will distribute cards with dusk and after-dark driving pointers to drivers at Vision Zero priority intersections, like Grand Concourse in the Bronx and Queens Boulevard.
The city said its pointed daylight savings enforcement is part of the overarching Vision Zero goal of zero traffic fatalities by the year 2024. It recalls this summer's Bicycle Safe Passage initiative, when precincts focused on drivers blocking bike lanes and committing failure to yield infractions for four days. More than 800 failure to yield tickets were issued, as well as 1,086 red light tickets and 1,757 tickets for blocking a bike lane.
"The NYPD is going to do a little bit better for a few weeks and then we're going to go back to business as usual," predicted Transportation Alternatives Director Paul Steely White. He went on to accuse Mayor de Blasio of over-investing in "old-school traffic safety."
"A central precept of Vision Zero is, instead of admonishing drivers, changing the street system to force drivers to be safer," he said.
According to the city, the DOT is on track to complete "at least 90" street safety upgrades by the end of the year—more than any year previous. These include protected bike lanes, improved visibility at intersections, and wider pedestrian queue areas at crosswalks. The DOT has also promised lighting upgrades at 1,000 intersections by year's end.
