Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 19th, 2014

I applaud Mayor DeBlasio for making bold efforts to reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries in New York: now he wants to reduce the Manhattan speed limit to 25mph from 30mph and help enforce this by installing more cameras to help enforce this law. Its always smart to think of laws AND how they can be enforced simultaneously. While the speed of driving in New York is a major factor in fatalities, the QUALITY of driving should also be addressed. The 12-year Bloomberg administration dramatically reduced traffic fatalities and had attempted to reduce the speed limit to 20mph un-successfully. A multi-prong attack on this subject is essential and should include:

• Reduced, enforced speed limits.
• Enforcing speed limits and ignored red lights with the installation of more cameras.
• Lane adhering: too many drivers ignore the lanes.
• Double-parkers: they cause aggravation and often result in lost vision for other drivers.
• Creating 2-lane traffic on side streets.
• Creating loading zones for deliveries AND garbage collection
• Bad bicycle driving clampdown: are cyclists immune to the law? It appears so.
• Set an example: often I see drivers of police and government vehicles ignoring the traffic laws they are supposed to enforce.

More importantly: New York pedestrians ARE out of control. From those that ignore red lights, to those that cross the street anywhere without looking….slowly…..almost challenging cars to hit them so their sleazy lawyers can sue for a ‘retire-for-life’ settlement. Instead of the jay-walking fines, maybe a month of policing AWARENESS, to point out to pedestrians just how out of control they really are. Streets are for vehicles that are essential to the flow of this City and in my opinion pedestrians, reckless cyclists and bad drivers are the ones making it miserable for everyone else. Maybe the additional fine revenues can eliminate the need for raising taxes?