Reclaiming the Streets

Oversize Trucks Terrorize New York City

Read the latest news about this issue.

New York City law recognizes the special threat that large vehicles pose by limiting semi-truck lengths to 55 feet. But the deaths of two cyclists under the wheels of tractor-trailers in a period of eight days this April once again shows that having a law on the books doesn't mean much if there is no enforcement.

SoHo community leader Carl Rosenstein recently surveyed trucks on Canal Street and found that at least a third of them exceeded 55 feet. Interstate semis with sleeper cabs are about 70 feet long. Intense pressure from the community there has led to almost constant truck enforcement on Broome Street, formerly a heavily used truck shortcut.

But in the rest of the city illegal trucks have free reign. Last year, City Councilmernber Katherine Freed passed legislation that requires 55 foot truck limit signs at city entrances. A recent survey of tunnel entrances found no evidence of those signs. We won't ever know if the trucks that killed the cyclists in early April were too long, because the police mounted no investigation and didn't bother to check. At a memorial ceremony held by T.A. following the death of Jill Solomon at 59th Street and 2nd Ave., mourners watched as an oversized truck turning onto the Queensboro Bridge crushed the front of a car at the exact location where Solomon was killed. Luckily the driver was protected by his 2,000 pound metal cage. Cyclists and pedestrians remain at great risk until the NYPD cracks down on these monsters.

Write to: NYPD Commissioner Howard Safir. Ask him to beef up the Poul truck enforcement unit and update the list of offenses that all cops carry to include the 55 foot rule. 

Howard Safir
One Police Plaza
New York, NY 10038
Fax:(212)374-0265

News Flash: Speeding Still Rampant On City Streets

Read the latest news about this issue.

T.A.'s 1993 "Speeder City" study found that the police gave an average of fewer than 35 speeding summonses a day to the 2 million motor vehicles that ply New York City's streets and avenues. Four years later, "Speeder City II" shows that the cops have upped speeding enforcement to an unimpressive average of 44 tickets a day.

In contrast, cops hand out about 10,000 parking tickets a day. T.A. volunteers clocking speeds on city streets have found that motorists routinely exceed the 30 mph limit by 10 to 20 miles an hour. Yes folks, speeding is as rampant as it seems. On Brooklyn's 4th Avenue, some motorists were observed driving 53 mph, with speeds in the upper 40's common. On upper Broadway, DOT'S own speed counts have found many motorists driving in the low 50's with average speeds in tile low 40's. Both of these streets have heavy pedestrian usage and injury rates and are in densely populated areas.

Speeding contributes directly to the city's high pedestrian death and injury rates. While the tabloids like to complain about creeping midtown traffic speeds, most city streets have little congestion for most of the day and are over-built. The chance of death or injury to someone hit by a car rises exponentially with car speed: an increase from 30 mph to 40 mph means the odds of dying jump from 40% to 70%. Over all, speeding creates a sense of menace and hostility that makes walking or bicycling frightening and unpleasant.

In Germany, much effort has gone into traffic calming arterial streets to improve quality of life and reduce pedestrian deaths and injuries. Broadway would be an ideal street to place proven German methods like elevated intersections and crosswalks. Motorists traveling the speed limit would experience no problems, while those speeding would be forced to slow down. Enforcing the law with police motorcycle units and "speed radar cameras" would make a big difference until those permanent changes become a reality.

Gridlock Sam Runs Down Pedestrians: 27th Street Ped Mall Threatened

Guy writes letter to tabloid traffic columnist complaining about day-time pedestrian-only use of a street on nearby college campus. The columnist (who was DOT First Deputy Commissioner ten years ago) writes a letter to the DOT asking them to deal with the complaint and suggests opening the street to motor vehicles during the day, despite heavy pedestrian traffic.  The DOT Commissioner, over the opposition of the Community Board, College President, Transportation Alternatives and others, says he'll let cars on the street starting May 1.  Hello! Is this how City transportation policy is being made these days?

The street in question is 27th between 7th and 8th Aves. - the heart of the Fashion Institute of Technology's campus.  The columnist, the Daily News' "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz and the commissioner, Christopher Lynn. Amazingly, this deplorable event will come to pass unless FIT gets its powerful board members to pressure the Mayor, and unless T.A. mobilizes its forces.  Moves like this one make it increasingly hard to believe that the Giuliani Administration is serious about any transportation issue other than moving cars.  FIT is a major institution that anchors New York's world-famous fashion industry.  Businesses move to the street because of the calm, quiet atmosphere, and real estate agents use the pedestrianization as a selling point.  Yet one cranky motorist trumps all that.