Long Island’s system of roads is often unsafe for both pedestrians and cyclists. There were 738 total accidents involving pedestrians and 356 involving cyclists in Nassau County in 2021, the most recent data available on the Institute for Traffic Safety, Management, and Research website. As development has advanced, infrastructure was engineered around the automobile and not other forms of transportation, creating a network of dangerous roadways that force walkers and cyclists into dangerous spaces.
According to national and state data, the Long Island region has one of the highest rates of pedestrian injury/fatality in the state with many roads deemed “death corridors.” Teens and young adults are among the more vulnerable demographics when it comes to pedestrian/traffic safety.
A recent NYCTS survey found that speeding cars, lack of sidewalks and marked bicycle lanes instilled the greatest fear among Long Islanders surveyed. These local findings correlate to much larger studies conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Governors Traffic Safety Committee. These surveys all point to the same reasons for road users’ unease.
Cindy Brown, executive director of the New York Coalition for Transportation Safety, stressed a three pronged approach to combatting these types of accidents. “It’s engineering, education and enforcement that keeps the roads safe. Better roadway design that forces cars to slow down and, of course, arming pedestrians and cyclists with knowledge about laws designed to keep them safe are just some of the tactics safety advocates employ,” said Brown. “It is a multi-faceted problem and requires a multi-faceted approach.”
For the engineering component, it can be challenging to adapt existing infrastructure towards a more pedestrian/cyclist friendly arrangement. Crossing multi-lane roads is a challenge, especially for handicapped or elderly people. One way of accommodating people is adding a median with enough space to allow them to take the crossing in stages. Installing signals that show how many seconds remain to cross safely helps people to plan. Flashing signs and lights embedded around crosswalks prevent drivers from being surprised by pedestrians.
Another change is a practice dubbed “daylighting”, which as Janine Logan of the Long Island Health Collaborative describes it, is where “you take out a parking space that would go closest to the to the corner, at the end of the road. There is some striping and stanchions, that avoids a car being parked there and obstructing any views of a person who’s riding a bike or walking.”
There is also something called a “road diet”, where the size of roads is reduced to slow traffic in more populated areas. Logan stated, “the smaller the narrower the lanes and the fewer lanes you have, there is documentation that drivers drive slower because there’s not this expanse(of roadway) .”
A key factor in reducing injuries is to raise awareness about the dangers of unsafe roads and unsafe pedestrian/motorist behavior through New York State law-based education. Brown often goes to speak to groups about how to help people walk or bike more safely in their communities. She suggests making the same sort of alert choices you should be making while driving. “You’ve heard of defensive driving. Well, we do defensive walking and bicycling… where can you cross in a crosswalk, where do you ride your bike? How much time do you have to get across the street? What does the law allow? Do the cars stop for you? What kind of a risk would you take if you were going? Is the route safe to walk? Can you see when you have to walk home after dark?” Making both drivers and pedestrians aware of how to proceed safely makes travel safer for everyone.
Speeding is especially problematic. Government statistics show that for more than two decades, speeding has been involved in approximately one-third of all motor vehicle fatalities, and in 2020 was a contributing factor in crashes that resulted in 11,258 fatalities. The best ways to combat this are enforcement from local authorities and cameras. “Speed cameras do slow down traffic at known intersections where there were a lot of crashes,” said Brown.
While about 60 percent of the survey respondents said overall they felt safe walking in their neighborhoods, 100 percent said they would feel even safer due to the knowledge gained during the educational program that highlighted New York State pedestrian/bicycle laws. They also noted that roadway design factors, such as marked crosswalks, crossing signals, and protected and marked bicycle lanes, would make them feel safer.
It’s important for the public to see traffic accidents as a problem that can be solved rather than a part of life to simply be accepted. Federal funding is available for communities that apply in order to make the necessary changes. According to Brown, “traffic fatalities are almost taken for granted. That’s why we’ve referred to it as an epidemic because it really is an epidemic. If it was a disease, we throw things at it to try to wipe it out. At the federal level, they really have recognized how difficult this is. A lot more money is now coming down and it’s going to be made available to local communities that apply for it.”
