Why New York City Must Design Streets for Children
Why New York Must Design Streets for Children
What Can Be Learned from the Incomprehensible Tragedy of the 100th Child Killed Since the Launch of Vision Zero
In 2014, in response to mounting traffic fatalities, the City of New York launched a new initiative to end traffic deaths and serious injuries in New York City. “Vision Zero” centered on the belief that traffic deaths and injuries were preventable with policies and infrastructure that prioritized human life over vehicle movement. The mayor and City Council would go on to enact 11 street safety bills in the following six months, launch an ambitious schedule of building new safe streets infrastructure, and lobby the state to reduce local speed limits for the first time in history. As a result, by the year 2016, child fatalities were cut in half — from 18 to nine.
Today, our progress is at a standstill. In 2022, 16 children were killed in traffic crashes. On July 3rd, 2023 when a 15- and 17-year-old were both killed in a car crash in Washington Heights, the City of New York counted the 100th and 101st children killed by vehicles in the Vision Zero era. Each of these losses is an incomprehensible tragedy. Together, they serve as a clarion call for change.
Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets examined the details of every child fatality in the Vision Zero era, and what we found was surprising. Vision Zero has not failed. For years, the remarkable efforts of the City of New York to redesign streets and remake policies with safety in mind largely succeeded. But the old efforts are no longer enough. New York City is a fundamentally different place today than it was in 2014. The vehicles that pose a threat to vulnerable road users are larger and more numerous than ever before. New and more aggressive efforts are needed to protect the two million children who call New York City home.
In an examination of the first 100 children killed in the Vision Zero era, the following patterns emerged:
All 100 children were killed by the driver of a vehicle.
Of the 70 children who were killed while walking or biking, one third were killed on their way to or from school.
59 of the 100 children killed were pedestrians.
65% of children were killed by large vehicles, such as an SUV, van, or truck.
Over time, the percentage of children killed by large vehicles rose from 49% to 76%, comparing the first 50 child fatalities in the Vision Zero era to the latter 50.
In 2022, more children were killed by traffic violence than any time in the Vision Zero era; more than 80% of those killed were struck by SUVs or other large vehicles.
A majority of the first 100 child fatalities occurred in 13 of 51 City Council districts. Five districts alone — Districts 31, 51, 12, 21, and 48 — account for 30% of all child fatalities. These five districts have 81% fewer bus lanes and 64% fewer protected bike lanes than the city average.
Child traffic fatalities generally declined during the first six years of the Vision Zero era then began to rise in 2019.
These patterns can be understood through two profound changes to the nature of vehicle traffic on New York City streets since the launch of Vision Zero:
There are more vehicles in New York City than ever before. In a city with more vehicle miles traveled, children are more likely to have a dangerous encounter with a vehicle. After decades of decline, vehicle ownership rates and vehicle miles traveled in New York City are rising. From 2012 to 2021, city streets have seen the addition of nearly a quarter of a million vehicles — a more than 12% rise in car ownership. Between 2010 and 2017, the number of vehicle miles traveled rose 19%. More miles traveled in a pedestrian-dense city increases the likelihood that any trip turns fatal. Higher rates of vehicle ownership and greater vehicle miles traveled leads to higher per capita fatalities, and any factor that exacerbates crash rates especially affects the youngest New Yorkers.
Vehicles in New York City are larger and heavier than ever before. Children, being smaller, are more at risk as vehicle size and weight rises. Since 1980, the average weight of a passenger vehicle rose by one-third, from 3,200 pounds to nearly 4,200 pounds today. Much of this growth in vehicle weight is seen in SUVs and pickup trucks, which make up an increasingly large share of vehicles on the road in New York City. Between 2016 and 2020, the number of SUVs owned by New Yorkers increased by 21%. As of 2020, SUVs represent over 60% of registered personal vehicles in New York City. This transition has had deadly results because drivers of SUVs and pickup trucks are three to four times more likely to hit a pedestrian while turning, as compared to drivers of sedans, and a pedestrian struck by an SUV or pickup truck is 41% more likely to die than a pedestrian struck by a sedan at the same speed. Of the first 50 child fatalities in the Vision Zero, 49% were killed by an SUV or larger vehicle; of the latter 50 child fatalities, 76% were killed by an SUV or larger. In 2022, a record number of children were killed by traffic violence in New York City, and more than 80% of those killed were struck by SUVs or larger vehicles. Because children, whether pedestrians or passengers, are smaller, they are much more susceptible to injury than adults, so when vehicles have a greater injurious potential, children suffer the most.
There are more vehicles in New York City than anytime in history, and those vehicles are larger and heavier than ever before. After years of Vision Zero gains, these factors have halted the City of New York’s success in reducing traffic fatalities.
Vision Zero has not failed, but New York City has changed, and Vision Zero’s future success rests on how we respond to these changes. In the nine years since Vision Zero launched, the City of New York transformed countless streets and intersections, lowered the speed limit, and installed miles of protected bike lanes, acres of car-free space, and nearly 6,000 Leading Pedestrian Intervals and 2,000 automated speed enforcement cameras. For years, these efforts effectively reduced the number of children killed on city streets. However, the uptick in car ownership, the growing size and weight of SUVs and pickups, and the proliferation of supersized vehicles on city streets has caused unprecedented danger to children across New York City. Today, new and bolder action is needed.
Recommendations
The loss of 100 children is a stain on the City of New York that has devastated communities across the five boroughs. This dark milestone must also be a reckoning: It is time to protect the lives of the two million children who call New York City home. Mayor Eric Adams, the New York City Council, and the New York State legislature must take this moment to recommit to Vision Zero and the transformative changes required to meet that ambitious goal.
Transportation Alternatives recommends a two-part plan to respond to the changing nature of vehicle traffic on city streets, and to ensure that not one more child is killed on our streets: design streets for vulnerable road users and mitigate the risk posed by large vehicles.
Street Design for the Most Vulnerable Road Users
Redesign streets for the safety of children and other vulnerable road users, such as older New Yorkers, people who use assistive mobility devices, and people with low vision. This requires a design perspective that protects people from cars – especially those of smaller stature, with slower walking paces, the need for curb cuts, and the inability to visually communicate with drivers. By designing for vulnerable road users, we ensure that every New Yorker is also safe. Designing for vulnerable road users requires, among other things:
Build School Streets: In New York City, there are 57% more crashes and 25% more injuries per mile on streets near schools during the 8 a.m. hour on school days. The rate of people injured by drivers on school days is 43% higher outside schools where a majority of students were Black or Latino. Car-free school streets restrict car-access to streets outside schools during school hours, providing a safe space for pick-up and drop-off. School streets also activate the space outside of schools for play and learning. School Streets in the UK have been found to reduce air pollution by as much as 74% and car-free Open Streets in New York City have reduced crashes by as much as 77%.
Bring Back Safe Routes to School: One in three of the 100 children killed in the Vision Zero era were killed en-route to or from school. Safe Routes to Schools, which converts car space at intersections near schools into daylighting, sidewalk widening, and pedestrian safety islands, brought a 44% decrease in injuries for school-age children at 124 high-risk intersections, along with an 11% increase in students walking or biking to school when implemented in New York City.
Implement Universal Daylighting of Intersections: One in every three pedestrian fatalities in New York City involves a left-turning vehicle. Drivers of SUVs and pickup trucks are three to four times more likely to hit a pedestrian while turning, as compared to drivers of sedans. Universal daylighting, which removes car parking spaces immediately adjacent to intersections, can calm traffic, increase visibility, and reduce the likelihood of crashes. This tool was essential to Hoboken, New Jersey reaching Vision Zero.
Create Midblock Playgrounds: Lack of access to park space is directly correlated with high child fatalities. The New York City Council districts where residents have the most access to parks had the fewest children killed, and the City Council districts where residents have the least access to parks had the most children killed. Turning through-streets into cul-de-sacs with midblock playgrounds calms traffic, reduces speeding, and ensures that families do not need to travel far to access playspace. 84% of New York City voters support adding more space for children to play in their neighborhood, including 90% of Bronx voters, even if it results in less space for vehicles.
Pass the Pedestrian Scramble Bill: 59 of the 100 children killed were pedestrians. This legislation would require the New York City Department of Transportation to retime traffic signals around schools as “all walk sign” pedestrian scrambles during arrival and dismissal, preventing children from being stuck in the crosswalk by restricting all turns during crossings.
Meet Pedestrian Countdown Clock Legal Requirements: Nearly one in three of the 100 children killed were walking to or from school. This legislation, passed in 2017, required the New York City Department of Transportation to install pedestrian countdown signals adjacent to all schools and parks by August 2020, however this legal requirement has not been met by the agency. Fulfilling this requirement would ensure safe crossing for child pedestrians at their most common destinations.
Vehicle Safety for Vulnerable Road Users
Moving vehicle traffic through a dense urban environment puts children and other vulnerable road users at higher levels of risk. In a contest between fast-moving steel and a child’s fragile body, the child will always lose. However, while the federal government remains absent from regulatory efforts to control the risk posed by larger and heavier vehicles, the City and State of New York can take legislative action to control the harm of these vehicles on city streets. Controlling vehicle-related risk requires, among other things:
Passing the Vehicle Weight Registration Fee Bill: This legislation would make a real-cost adjustment to outdated vehicle registration fee structures to account for the risk and harm imposed by SUVs and pickup trucks on public health and infrastructure. Larger vehicles such as SUVs are responsible for a growing majority of child fatalities.
Passing the Speed Limiters for Reckless Drivers Bill: This forthcoming legislation would require drivers who repeatedly violate speed limits to install speed limiter devices on their vehicles that cap their vehicle speed at no more than five miles over the speed limit of a specific zone. Speeding drivers are a leading cause of fatal traffic crashes in New York City.
Legalizing Cargo Bikes: This legislation would legalize electric assist cargo bikes, paving the way to limit truck traffic on city streets by empowering e-cargo bike delivery. Larger vehicles such as trucks are responsible for a majority and increasing number of child pedestrian fatalities.
Setting Visibility Standards for Contractors: This policy change would mandate all newly purchased trucks in the New York City fleet to be high-visibility models, retrofit all existing vehicles to high-visibility standards, and require that any new City contracts include a clause mandating that companies only use high-visibility trucks. Larger vehicles are responsible for a majority and increasing number of child pedestrian fatalities. A study in London found that reaction times by truck drivers are 70% slower in traditional trucks compared to drivers in high-visibility models.
Implementing Automated School Bus Protections: This legislation required the New York City Department of Transportation to pilot an automated enforcement program to target drivers who illegally pass school buses, however this legal requirement has not been met by the agency.
A memorial we never should have had to make.
Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets record information about each fatal crash in New York City. We've used this information to create a memorial to the children our city has lost to traffic violence in the Vision Zero era.
