“Safe Routes” In NYC Prevent Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian accidents are common in our city. One only has to scan the news headlines on any given week to see people suffering serious injuries or even death following such accidents. There are several programs in place that seek to reduce incidents like these. Promoted by the NYC Department of Transportation, “Safe Routes to School,” “Safe Streets for Seniors”, and “Safe Routes to Transit” are all targeted at preventing certain pedestrian tragedies.
Safe Routes to School is a nationwide program that seeks to help children make it to school and their bus stops with minimal risk of accidents. In NYC, the program examined accident histories surrounding the city’s nearly 1,500 elementary and middle schools and targeted 135 high priority schools to be considered for improvements. Continue reading
Editorial Suggests Auto Accidents Should be Just as Big of a Concern as Gun Violence
A blog post on Streets Blog indicates that New York City officials are focusing too much on gun violence, when auto accidents cause many more deaths and injuries each year. The columnist, Brad Aaron, suggests that officials should rethink their approach in keeping New Yorkers alive, focusing on preventable accidents instead.
The post was spurred by an announcement of 16 people being indicted in illegal gun trafficking. A statement from the city remarked that there had been 127 shootings in Manhattan this year thus far. Nineteen of which resulted in fatalities.
But, counters Aaron, last year 26 pedestrians and cyclists were killed in the city and more than 2,500 were injured. With a higher fatality rate, he says, the city should be focusing here to make NYC a safer place for everyone.
Through August of this year, someone died in New York City traffic about every 30 hours, on average, and an injury occurred every 14 seconds. There is no concerted effort between city prosecutors and NYPD to get those numbers down, or to ensure that victims get justice. To the contrary, few crashes are even investigated. Continue reading
Police Criticized for Handling of Pedestrian Accidents
Many New Yorkers take it for granted, believing that if they are ever hit by a car as they cross a busy street, the police will take their time to launch an investigation into the accident, testing the driver for alcohol, measuring skid marks on the street, and coming up with a full report. But, that isn’t always the case, and one man is now taking his story public to bring people’s attention to what he believes are the shortcomings of the handling of such pedestrian accidents.
Jacob Stevens, a New Yorker, watched as his wife was hit and killed by a driver early on a July morning last year. He doesn’t remember seeing the accident, and is grateful for that, but he remembers the sound. Stevens believes the police didn’t do enough at the time of the accident because his wife was not dead, according to the NY Times.
The police unit Stevens is angry with is actually a division of the New York Highway Patrol; it’s called the Accident Investigations Squad, or AIS. The AIS team is made up of 19 detectives and 4 supervisors who respond to the most serious of accidents. Their directive is to only respond when there is a fatality or if death is likely. Continue reading