Someone is killed on New York City's streets every 33 hours, while an injury occurs every 10 seconds. Five children are hit by cars every day. More New Yorkers are now killed in traffic than murdered by guns. It's time for all us to say enough is enough, to stop accepting the idea that this daily loss of life and limb is the cost of living in this city.
We are families whose loved ones have been killed or maimed by reckless behavior and dangerous conditions on New York City's streets, and we are demanding an end to traffic violence. We are parents, children, partners, and siblings who have been forever changed by crashes, and we represent the full breadth of New York's diversity. As survivors, we bear witness to our pain and suffering in order to press for the elimination of traffic fatalities and serious injuries. We envision a city where pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists can safely co-exist, and children and adults can travel freely, without risk of harm—a city where no loss of life is acceptable.
A few weeks ago, we came together to turn our grief into action, so that no one else will have to endure the pain we have come to know. Today, we formally announced the formation of our group, Families for Safe Streets, as a force for change to make sure that New York City's Vision Zero policy is implemented rapidly.
We are very thankful that Mayor de Blasio and the current City Council share the objective of ending road fatalities and serious injuries by 2024. At the same time, we believe that 10 years is too long to achieve this goal. In the coming decade, if the current rates of traffic violence continue, New York City will lose 3,000 more New Yorkers like Allison Liao (age 3), Lucian Merryweather (age 9) and Sammy Cohen Eckstein (age 12)—all killed in crosswalks and on sidewalks this past year. On top of that, another 30,000 New Yorkers will be left maimed, like Hutch Ganson, who suffered serious injuries from which he will never recover. And there will be another 300,000 people like us, family members whose lives have been changed forever because of a loved ones' devastating injury or death.
The Action Plan released last week by the de Blasio administration's Interagency Vision Zero Working Group is a great start. But it's just a start. We need our City Council members to do everything in their power to expedite implementation of specific measures to end the carnage on our streets.
First, we are calling on lawmakers to ensure that the Department of Transportation gets the funding it needs to make good on Mayor de Blasio's pledge to redesign the city's most dangerous corridor—multi-lane speedways like Queens Boulevard, which has long been known as the "Boulevard of Death," the street where 22-year-old Asif Rahman was killed by a truck while riding his bike home from work in 2008.
In addition to better street engineering, Vision Zero also depends on more effective enforcement. The NYPD will need additional funding so that precincts across the five boroughs can target the most dangerous traffic violations: speeding and failure to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.
Even if there is adequate funding to fix hazardous corridors and step up enforcement and safety awareness campaigns, many changes to the law will be necessary—from the way we police our streets to the way we prosecute those who violate traffic laws. We will need to fight in Albany, so that New York City will have the right to expand the 20 mph speed limit, install more speed cameras, and change laws to punish reckless drivers. We call on the members of the City Council to join us in the effort to make those things happen.
We know the changes we seek will not always be popular. Some people will complain about the inconvenience, about the loss of parking spots, and about the fact that it may take drivers a bit longer to get where they're going. There will be those who say not now, not this way, not on my block.
When those people attempt to obstruct the safety improvements we need to save lives, we hope that our elected officials will stand up and remind the critics to think of us—their neighbors and fellow New Yorkers who are grieving because the streets were not safe for our loved ones. We hope that our representatives will explain to their constituents that the only way forward for New York City is a road where nobody has to die or be seriously injured.
We also hope that the members of the City Council will also remember those who cannot appear before the Transportation Committee on Monday to tell their stories, because they were taken from us too soon by preventable crashes. We call on all Council Members to stand up and say: not one more Allie, Lucian or Sammy. Not one more Ella Bandes, who was run over by a bus at age 23, or Renee Thompson, who was hit by a truck at age 16. Not one more family left grief-stricken. Today, we call on the Council to commit to Zero Tolerance for unnecessary deaths and serious injuries in traffic. We ask all New Yorkers to commit to making the streets safe for every person who uses them. We ask YOU to commit to Vision Zero.
This editorial was written by Families For Safe Streets, who include Debbie Kahn, whose son 22-year-old Seth Kahn was fatally struck by a city bus in Manhattan on November 4, 2009; Judith Kottick, whose 23-year-old daughter Ella Bandes was killed on January 31, 2013 by a city bus in Brooklyn; Amy Tam-Liao, whose 3-year-old daughter Allison was killed by a driver making a left hand turn in Brooklyn on October 6, 2013; Amy Cohen, whose 12-year-old son Sammy Cohen Eckstein was killed on October 8, 2013 while crossing Prospect Park West; Dana Lerner, whose 9-year-old son Cooper Stock was fatally struck by a taxi driver on the Upper West Side on January 10, 2014; and Lindsey Ganson, whose 62-year-old father Hutch Ganson was severely injured when crossing a Brooklyn street on February 2, 2009. Tomorrow, the City Council's Transportation and Public Safety Committee will holding a a joint oversight hearing on Mayor de Blasio's Vision Zero plan.
