Enforcing Vision Zero When Drivers Have Zero Vision

Screeching tires followed by the sound of hard metal and aluminum crunching together is an all too familiar noise. These sudden, piercing crash sounds are usually followed by the whining of a siren – police and ambulance making their way to the scene where someone is pinned or overturned in their vehicle.
Just the other week in Canarsie, a 60-year-old man was killed when a driver – heading down Remsen Avenue – recklessly plowed into his car. The 60-yearold was also traveling along Remsen Avenue and the sound of the two cars colliding must have been nothing short of gut-wrenching. It must have also been gut-wrenching for the man’s family to learn that he didn’t survive his injuries – and that the survivor of the horrific crash was an intoxicated, irresponsible 25- year-old who didn’t want to pay attention to the rules of the road.

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Do you think any of Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiatives would have prevented this tragedy? Canarsie, like many communities across Brooklyn, has its share of treacherous streets, intersections and deadly crossings. But, after reading the Vision Zero Action Plan 2014 for New York, rescuing drivers and pedestrians from dangerous drivers – and pedestrians – means putting up with those who have Zero Vision!

De Blasio’s master plan is a whopping 42 pages long with about 30 of those pages actually containing substantial information about Vision Zero. Sure, you’ll find some great suggestions for decreasing the amount of accidents in the city – including reducing the speed limit to 25 miles per hour and adding more red light cameras. In a city where everyone is from the same community and have been following the same traffic laws for decades, it might work.

However, in New York City, you’re dealing with a melting pot of people from different states and countries who often practice their own driving rules instead of what’s safe and logical. Go ahead; add as many radar detectors to the system as you want – lower the speed limit. Who said you have to be driving super fast to plow down a pedestrian or motorcycle in front of you?
Vision Zero sounds like an aggressive approach to decreasing accidents and deaths and increasing pedestrian safety. Yeah...if you’ve got your cell phone in your hand and you’re not paying attention, or you’re jaywalking because you’re just so confident that you could beat that car coming down the street, then Vision Zero will teach you a thing or two.
Let’s get real. The Health Department creates new initiatives every month – they plaster posters all over the city to deter dangerous behaviors such as drunk driving and teen pregnancy (by the way, the Health Department recently noted that younger teens still account for one in four teen births). Their plans take hundreds of thousands of dollars – only to impact a small percentage of people who are being targeted. However much Vision Zero is going to cost the city, it won’t cost nearly as much as the funerals for all the victims of careless drivers.
The drunk drivers – and drivers who simply want to cut someone off – aren’t worried about Vision Zero. If all of the components of Vision Zero existed YEARS AGO, maybe those drivers wouldn’t have gotten this far. Why is it taking so many accidents, so many casualties for de Blasio to finally think about incorporating every city agency into his initiative?

Do you know how many residents in Canarsie asked for speed bumps to be installed on blocks where speeding isn’t tracked on a regular basis? Suddenly, the Vision Zero plan calls for 250 speed bumps to be installed in neighborhood slow zones. How much do you want to bet that none of the streets in Canarsie will be chosen to get those speed bumps? East 92nd Street and Avenue L is one of the most dangerous intersections – along with various avenues that intersect with Remsen Avenue. Nothing has been done at those sites to prevent more chaos.