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Discussion on street design, speed limiters, and comprehensive safety approaches
2:10:05
·
6 min
Council Member Yusef Salaam leads a discussion on broader street design issues and comprehensive safety approaches with multiple participants, including representatives from Families for Safe Streets.
- Participants discuss the impact of street design changes on traffic flow and safety.
- The conversation covers the 'safe system approach' which includes safer vehicles, speeds, and road designs.
- The importance of speed limiters in areas where street design changes are limited is emphasized.
- The discussion concludes with a call for continued collaboration on various safety approaches, particularly the 'stop super speeders' bill.
Yusef Salaam
2:10:05
I actually have a question, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think some of the testimony that was received here today, I think it might have been council member Joseph who was saying it might have it may not have been her, but specifically about the street design.
2:10:25
Now, years ago prior to, you know, me being known in an infamous way, I used to ride my skateboard from Schaumburg Plaza up to the hill Cathedral Parkway that was just, you know, I had friends that lived up there.
2:10:43
And, I do know that part of the way that the streets now are being designed, the fact that it's becoming more constrictive as opposed to widened.
2:10:52
Yeah.
2:10:52
You know, I'm not sure if there ever has been a study and if it hasn't I think it might be a great exercise to look at before and after because the biggest problem that we're trying to fix, especially when it comes to people speeding, there's a whole host of other dynamics.
2:11:11
It might be as was described by the PD, you know, somebody trying to rush to a recital or go here or go like we there's so many different things, but when you restrict the streets to, you know, there's confusion coming from, you know, Columbus Avenue down to Manhattan Avenue, especially because the buses now are on the same side as cars and then there's that single lane that goes left, but it doesn't really look like that's a lane that goes left.
2:11:42
But, you know, I'm not I'm not sure if that's something that has been looked at as it relates to especially with Sammy's Law with regards to the speed super speed is all of the things that we are trying to shore up, you know.
Darnell Sealy-McCrorey
2:11:58
That intersection, I just wanted to camel back on.
2:12:02
It definitely needs infrastructure.
2:12:06
Different it's I don't I don't know how to say it, but it's it's wide.
2:12:11
It's wide, but still so so narrow.
2:12:16
Yeah.
2:12:17
It's it's really easy for you to get hit there.
2:12:19
It's very easy for you to if you're if you're not paying attention and, you know, people like to wear the AirPods and it wasn't just my daughter that week.
2:12:30
There were two others.
2:12:32
Same week.
2:12:34
So it it it something has to be done.
2:12:36
And like she said, we're we're we're running out of time, and we're really trying to push this bill.
Dahlia Goldenberg
2:12:44
Yeah.
2:12:44
The US DOT uses something called the safe system approach that we also support.
2:12:50
It's highly backed by data.
2:12:53
It has been researched across the country and also in places like London and across the EU.
2:13:00
It includes safer vehicles, which is things like speed limiters to make the vehicle itself safer.
2:13:05
Safer speeds, so reducing the speed limit.
2:13:08
That has been the number one thing that has reduced fatalities on streets in London when they reduced their speed limits to 20, and then safer roads.
2:13:16
And so there are a number of things such as narrowing the lanes, making changes at the intersections that cause vehicles to slow down when all of those other factors are a part of it, And all of these approaches work together as a safe system approach reducing the traffic violence.
2:13:38
So that's why we work across all of these different areas, the roads, the vehicles themselves, and the speed limits.
UNKNOWN
2:13:46
Gotcha.
2:13:47
I
Amber Adler
2:13:48
want to add one thing here that I find really important to note especially as you're saying you know it's a wide road and I know Ocean Parkway by me is very wide.
2:13:59
The thing with the speed limiters, you know, it's driver by driver, car by car.
2:14:05
And that's effective in a lot of areas where you can't change street design.
2:14:09
Like Ocean Parkway is an evacuation route and I was working for Safe Streets even when Chaim Dwitsch was in office.
2:14:17
And I went out there with Tish James and him and all these other people and Vision Zero came out at one point and they had service roads next to it.
2:14:27
And you know they changed the arrows like where you could turn.
2:14:30
Like you can only turn here, can only turn there.
2:14:32
You can only do this, you can only do that.
2:14:34
And that helped to an extent but there were still then people speeding in the service lanes.
2:14:39
People not stopping in the service lanes.
2:14:41
That's why I'm just going to underline like that, like places where you sort of can only change so much because of it being an evacuation route.
2:14:49
Those like devices in the car become even more vital.
Darnell Sealy-McCrorey
2:14:54
Right.
2:14:56
Because it it it after my daughter was struck, the vehicle did not stop.
2:15:04
The vehicle kept going.
2:15:05
No.
2:15:07
It did stop.
2:15:08
It didn't stop automatically, like, right then and there.
2:15:12
It stopped so it's it happened at one zero tenth between one zero tenth and 10 Ninth.
2:15:19
It stopped a little past 10 Ninth.
2:15:23
Why?
2:15:25
Speeding.
Yusef Salaam
2:15:28
Wow.
Dahlia Goldenberg
2:15:29
So thank you again, and thank you for this resolution, and we urge you to keep working with us on all these approaches, and right now on our our priority, which is getting the stop super speeders bill passed in Albany.
Yusef Salaam
2:15:42
Well, thank you all for your testimony.
2:15:43
It definitely was appreciated.
2:15:45
Thank you.
Dahlia Goldenberg
2:15:46
Thank you so much.
Yusef Salaam
2:15:47
And if you also have any of the date if if the testimony hasn't been fully read by you, definitely submit it to be included today.
Dahlia Goldenberg
2:15:55
We will.
UNKNOWN
2:15:55
Thank Thank you everyone.
2:15:59
Next we'll turn to Zoom.
2:16:00
Eric McClure followed by Andre D.
2:16:03
Carroll.
2:16:04
I will unmute you just now.
2:16:06
One second.