By Karen Rubin, News-Photos-Features.com
We are entering the time of year when it is most dangerous to be on our roadways – it is the period of longest darkness, lots of holiday merrymaking and gatherings where people are more apt to party too hardy and then get behind the wheel.
Which makes Newsday’s recent headline all the more disturbing: “Long Island traffic deaths surge; reckless driving up, enforcement down since 2019, Newsday analysis finds”.
Newsday also reported that Long Island tops the entire state for the number of seniors, 65 and older, killed in vehicular accidents. They aren’t necessarily the ones driving – they can be pedestrians just trying to cross the street when they are run down, run over.
Traffic fatalities on Long Island last year surged to the highest levels since 2015, as dangerous driving increased post-COVID-19 and police traffic enforcement dropped, according to a Newsday analysis of crash and ticketing data and traffic experts.
Another Newsday story reports that nearly 60% of drivers surveyed nationally by AAA admitted to engaging in risky behavior including speeding, driving aggressively, distracted driving including texting behind the wheel, or driving impaired.
The New York Times just reported a study which shows outsized increase in pedestrian fatalities at night - far exceeding the trend in other developed countries – and points to more distracted driving because of smartphones, as well as the possible (but not yet analyzed) role legalization of marijuana has played in increased driving while under the influence. (Why Are So Many American Pedestrians Dying at Night?)
And in an interesting observation for Long Island, the Times reported, “Nationwide, the suburbanization of poverty in the 21st century has meant that more lower-income Americans who rely on shift work or public transit have moved to communities built around the deadliest kinds of roads: those with multiple lanes and higher speed limits but few crosswalks or sidewalks. The rise in pedestrian fatalities has been most pronounced on these arterials, which can combine highway speeds with the cross traffic of more local roads.”
Another factor, as reported in Newsday, is the glaring intensity of LED headlights that blind drivers.
But I would also point to another phenomenon, connected to road rage and the rise in political violence: it is the sense of not giving a damn about other people. There is no courtesy, no care, no concern for others. It points to a culture dominated now by selfishness, self-absorption and narcissism.
“It is abundantly clear that something in the collective psyche has disintegrated in terms of careful driving,” Maureen McCormick, who established Nassau County’s and New York City’s vehicular crimes bureaus, told Newsday.
But none of these factors removes the responsibility of municipalities, from villages to counties to the state, to do more to make roadways safer, much as they would like to ignore their own responsibility or accountability.
There are things that should be done – the “low hanging fruit”I would suggest – such as better lighting and better signage (you can’t even tell if you have arrived at Jericho Turnpike or Hillside Avenue) and better signage ahead of coming to an intersection, also more visible addresses on commercial and residential buildings.
But the thornier – and costlier – problem is road design.
Long Island, America’s first Suburbia, was designed for automobiles, not pedestrians or cyclists, not the elderly or disabled, even though the state has since 2011 been dying to give money away for Complete Streets strategies - traffic calming measures like “road diet,” colored pavers at crosswalks, bump-outs for drop offs and even some trolley service to cut down on car traffic, medians where pedestrians can stop, better traffic light systems, to make downtowns safer (and at the same time, boost the local economy).
“Grants are difficult to get,” says Great Neck Plaza’s former mayor Jean Celender, who was successful during the course of her administration in winning several grants and redesigning the village roadways to calm traffic, improve safety and beautify the village.
That might have been true, but now there is absolutely no excuse – between the $385 million the federal government awarded the county in 2021 from the American Rescue Plan Act (the funds have to be allocated for specific purposes by Dec. 31, 2024 and spent by the end of 2026, or lose it). Nassau County and North Hempstead are just sitting on (the County Republicans have said they want those millions earning interest - the county has earmarked $186.6 million and spent $69.5 million, according to Treasury Department data through June 30, Newsday reported, but County Republicans said they are happy having those millions sitting and earning interest.
Now County Executive Bruce Blakeman, whose entire administration has been one ribbon cutting and proclamation photo op after another, says he wants to spend $10 million of the federal coronavirus relief for a series of events next year celebrating the county’s 125th anniversary (Democratic lawmakers say the money would be better spent on mental health and social service programs). The Republican-dominated Legislature already allocated $2 million for a tourism campaign and spent $600,000 on commercials (no surprise) starring Blakeman. (No doubt Blakeman is holding back millions so he will be able to use big announcements and photo ops for his reelection campaign in 2025.)
And as for stepping up traffic enforcement, Blakeman is more focused on stopping theft of catalytic converters (crime!!!) than doing anything to improve traffic safety and save lives. Has he directed his Public Works department to consider traffic safety or apply for grants? His big “tough on crime” initiative is having police cars patrol neighborhoods, likely to deter more thefts of catalytic converters.
Indeed, it is the county public works departments that have resisted design improvements that might improve safety.
“It’s uncomfortable for transportation agencies to talk about design issues because then they take accountability for their roads. They would rather talk about enforcement, drugs and driver and pedestrian responsibility, than talk about speed, because then have to be accountable for how their roads are designed for high speeds. Maybe never anticipated when planned roads in 1970s that more people would be walking, biking on roads – but they have to change,” said Eric Alexander, director of Vision Long Island.
A pedestrian has little chance of surviving being hit by a car traveling over 30 mph, and unless the road is designed to slow speed 24/7, there will be fatalities, he said. Slowing speeds “won’t stop the sociopath, the crazy person who doesn’t care, but for the bulk of people, they have to get the speed down. They can’t afford a cop on every corner.”
Alexander, whose organization has conducted “Complete Streets” and “Smart Growth” conferences for years and organized 20 “walking audits” to advise villages of steps they can make to improve safety, pointed to several on Long Island - Lindenhurst, Amityville, Hempstead among them - that are improving their downtowns along Complete Streets principles, often in conjunction with the state’s $10 million downtown Revitalization Initiative grants.
Since 2011, New York State’s Complete Streets Act requires state, county and local agencies to consider the convenience and mobility of all users when developing transportation projects that receive state and federal funding. A Complete Street is a roadway planned and designed to consider the safe, convenient access and mobility of all roadway users of all ages and abilities - pedestrians, bicyclists, public transportation riders, and motorists, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. Design features include sidewalks, lane striping, bicycle lanes, paved shoulders suitable for use by bicyclists, signage, crosswalks, pedestrian control signals, bus pull-outs, curb cuts, raised crosswalks, ramps and traffic calming measures – measures that also contribute to increased retail activity.
“Complete Streets will contribute to a ‘cleaner, greener transportation system’ and ‘more citizens will achieve the health benefits associated with active forms of transportation while traffic congestion and auto related air pollution will be reduced.’” the DoT site reads.
But too many municipalities use the excuse that fixing roadways is out of their control because roads may be state, county or village. But that only means they need to work in collaboration.
This was on view when the old Village of Great Neck had the rarest opportunity to transform Middle Neck Road when the County repaved the length of the dangerous roadway, an opportunity likely that won’t come around again for 40 years. The County’s public works department (then under Laura Curren) was almost begging the village to present a plan, which never came. Instead, the village replanted bushes in the median that have grown to the point of impeding sight on oncoming traffic if you are making a left turn.
The Village could have opted to adopt some of the wise recommendations of foremost Complete Streets expert, Dan Burden, who advised putting Middle Neck Road on a “road diet” (one lane, not two in each direction) to calm traffic, making bump outs for drop-offs (that could have accommodated a cute Middle Neck Road trolley bus), at the same time, making the villages that line Middle Neck Road up to Lakeville attractive for pedestrians, bicyclists who would patronize merchants.
Instead, Great Neck Village planted bushes along the median, which are already growing high enough to impede vision of oncoming traffic if you would dare make a left turn onto Nirvana on your way to North High School.
I think one of the reasons local electeds are fearful to advocate for “traffic calming” and safety measures is cowardice. I remember when then-Plaza Mayor Jean Celender proposed putting Great Neck Road on a road diet that brought out mobs with pitchforks. But she has proved absolutely right.
“These grant projects are extremely complex, take large amounts of grant funds and require coordination with agencies on their funding cycles, etc.,” Celender stated in an email response to questions. “We are talking about years to secure and implement construction funds. But to start off, a village could do a Walking Audit with Vision LI or a transportation engineering consultant and can make some common sense improvements. Often crosswalks need to be repainted, lighting can be supplemented and improved for better visibility during the dark winter months, traffic signals can get un-synchronized so that cars don’t go speeding on a roadway from one signal to the next, and other traffic calming measures.
“Better roadway design is only one part of the solution. We need tougher laws focused on impaired driving, speeding, local road rage and wearing seat belts. Enforcement and public education are critical. There are proven solutions that crashes and accidents can be preventable. The 3 “E”s of Engineering, Enforcement and Education are necessary in a comprehensive program to reduce accidents and make roadways and sidewalks safer,” Celender stated.
One thing is better signage – Nassau has lousy signage, even no visible signage at major intersections, and few alerts that say, for example, “Jericho Turnpike next signal”. Poor signage to direct you to ramps to highways, little advance notice when you get to major boulevards like Jericho Turnpike or Hillside Avenue.
There has been little effort to get people out of cars and off roads – like north-south mass transportation (light rail perhaps?); a commuter and shoppers trolley that would go up and down Middle Neck Road and connect “park-and-ride” lots. And there should be bike racks on buses as there are in most other cities. I guess that, like the antipathy to affordable housing, is viewed as some kind of assault on “suburban way of life” (translation: “Car is king.”).
A few months ago, I was in Paris – one of the busiest cities in the world, with broad boulevards. I walked everywhere and never felt safer. In Paris, safety for pedestrians and cyclists is priority, car traffic is secondary. Actually pedestrians are the safest on the streets – they stop the traffic a half-block away from pedestrians, have signals that give plenty of time to cross and give adequate warning when the light will change again. Bicyclists have their own lane as well as traffic signals (in Vienna also).
And what about the highways and parkways, where there are so many fatalities due to speeding and driving impaired? The state’s Department of Transportation site (https://www.dot.ny.gov/projects) lists only two safety enhancement projects under construction in Nassau County and two others “under development”(“locations and scope to be determined”). Suffolk has one safety enhancement under construction and six vaguely listed as “future development.”
Long Islanders may treasure their “suburban quality of life”. But not if it is cut short.
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