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Public Advocate Jumaane Williams addresses daylighting and traffic safety initiatives
0:17:33
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3 min
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams presents his views on transportation-related issues, focusing primarily on daylighting intersections to improve street safety. He expresses support for Intro 1138, which would require the Department of Transportation (DOT) to implement daylighting barriers at a minimum of 1,000 intersections annually. Williams emphasizes the importance of this measure in light of recent traffic fatalities and increased traffic violence.
- Williams cites data showing community support for daylighting and highlights its potential to improve visibility and safety for all road users.
- He notes the DOT's existing budget for street reconstruction and argues that implementing Intro 1138 should not pose a significant challenge.
- The Public Advocate also touches on the need for equitable implementation of safety measures across all communities, particularly those of color and lower-income areas.
Jumaane Williams
0:17:33
Thank you madam chair.
0:17:35
As I mentioned, name is Jermani Williams, public advocate for the City Of New York.
0:17:39
Good morning.
0:17:39
Thank you chair Brooks Powell and the committee of transportation infrastructure polling this hearing.
0:17:43
I did wanna give a shout out to former commissioner Pat Gatling from the Human Rights Commission who's in the house as well.
0:17:49
And I'd like to ask my name to be added to both of my colleagues' bill to reduce the parking fines, which is really important to give some relief and to deal with the trucking parking which I'm sure my mother and her neighbors would be very happy about.
0:18:02
So please sign me on.
0:18:03
But I wanna talk a little bit more about the daylighting.
0:18:07
New York state law 12 o two refers to daylighting as preventing vehicles from stopping, standing, parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk at an intersection.
0:18:15
Daylighting intersections has come to be respected as a street design intervention that improves visibility for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians.
0:18:23
It removes blind spots for those who are walking, driving, and biking, helping all to see oncoming traffic turning traffic sooner, increasing public safety.
0:18:30
It was last report by the DOT in August 2024 that over 300 intersections were daylighted with a pace of to have 100,000 intersections daylighted by the end of the year.
0:18:40
DOT should release updated data through the end of twenty twenty four.
0:18:44
As of now, 21 community boards and four boroughs are exempting, representing over 2,000,000 New Yorkers have passed resolutions calling for daylighting at intersections with physical barriers like concrete and blocks and planters.
0:18:55
The DOT in recent years has worked diligently to expand open streets, create pedestrian plazas and bike lanes, and use technology to catch bad actors who speed through intersections, but we need to continue to improve.
0:19:07
Under the last published DOT streets plan in March 2025, recommendations were organized into 11 program areas, most of which will be affected positively by daylighting.
0:19:17
One of the recommendations under the safety and vision zero program area is to expand the use of proven safety treatments.
0:19:23
On March 29, a failed accident at the intersection of Quentin Road and Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn took the lives of a mother and her young children.
0:19:30
Following this herring accident, the NYPD shared September 2024 data that a transportation alternative showed that there was a record number of New Yorkers killed or seriously injured by traffic violence.
0:19:40
This increase demonstrates the need for intro eleven thirty eight, which requires the DOT to implement daylighting barriers at a minimum of a thousand intersections annually, making daylighting a key priority.
0:19:51
The DOT reported at the community of community of transportation oversight hearing on January twenty first of this year that they have 5 to $7,000,000,000 dedicated to street reconstruction, quote unquote, street reconstruction priorities including safety enhancements, accessibility improvements, and infrastructure maintenance.
0:20:07
If the DOT remains serious about this life saving priority, there should be a little chain challenge in working with the council on intro eleven thirty eight.
0:20:15
I also know that the street violence went up even more in communities of more color and poorer communities.
0:20:22
We wanna make sure that the infrastructure is happening across the board and equitably.
0:20:28
And I also hope that our colleagues who talk a lot about bicycle safety, which we should, but join us on this because most of the deaths and violence occurs with vehicles.
0:20:40
So we wanna make sure we're dealing with the vehicle culture as well.
0:20:43
My mother won't be happy about that, but we gotta make sure, that we are dealing with the culture that is causing the most violence in our communities.
0:20:50
Thank you so much.