Split-phase traffic lights separate the allotted times for pedestrian crossing and automobile turning, increasing safety for both. Installation at W. 23rd St. and Seventh Ave. led to a decrease of 63 percent in injury collisions.
BY ZACH WILLIAMS | As Vision Zero enters its second year, the idea that traffic accidents don’t “just happen” remains a driving force behind the effort to end traffic fatalities in New York City.
Transportation safety advocates say that deterring speeding and the failure to yield to pedestrians — two leading causes of fatal car collisions — will inspire new features to West Side streets as well as increased legal enforcement against motorists who engage in such behavior. Speed humps, pedestrian islands, “split-phase” traffic lights and other additions will proliferate throughout this year. Fifth and Sixth Aves. could also follow Ninth Ave. in becoming Complete Streets with protected spaces for cyclists and pedestrians.
A certain faith prevails among activists in the power of design to prevent dangerous interactions among motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. Where the culpability of streets end though, the negligence of drivers who injure or kill other street users begins, according to Transportation Alternatives (TA).
“You change design, and culture and behavior change along with it,” said Tom DeVito, Manhattan organizer for TA (transalt.org).
Crosstown streets tend to be narrower than the major avenues, limiting potential crosstown routes with separate bicycle lanes. CB4 would like to see split-phase traffic lights added to this 57th St. & Ninth Ave. location.
The culture shift necessary to truly realize Vision Zero will take time, perhaps 10 to 15 years, according to Community Board Four (CB4) Chair Christine Berthet. But one year since Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Vision Zero’s implementation, pedestrian fatalities due to automobile collisions (134) fell to their lowest level citywide since record-keeping began in 1910, and activists are determined to continue the successes of last year’s safety advocacy.
In all, 22 new laws were passed by the city council last year as part of the Vision Zero effort. Lowering the citywide default speed limit to 25mph necessitated action on the state level. Another new law enables misdemeanor charges against drivers who strike pedestrians with the right of way in crosswalks.
State legislators did their part by approving legislation last year, allowing the city to lower the speed limit, according to State Senator Brad Hoylman. Unlike taxes and other divisive issues, support for Vision Zero was not so hard to find within the corridors of power in Albany, he added.
“I think pedestrian safety is certainly a non-partisan issue and we are working on it very closely with both Republicans and Democrats in the legislature,” he said in a telephone interview.
Many traffic collisions result from both pedestrians and drivers thinking they have the right of way — a situation solved by split-phase traffic lights.
Legislative efforts are welcome, as is increased enforcement by NYPD — but neighborhood traffic safety advocates say they are focusing this year on street alterations targeting dangerous driving within CB4 boundaries while activists elsewhere increase calls for district attorney prosecutions.
An effort is underway by Clinton Hell’s Kitchen Coalition for Pedestrian Safety (CHEKPEDS) to pursue funding through the city participatory budgeting process for a pilot project which would combine a crosswalk with a speed hump, simultaneously increasing pedestrian visibility and slowing driving speeds. Residents will vote on final proposals for the budget process in April.
About a quarter of traffic collisions with CB4 boundaries from 2012-14 resulted from turning vehicles hitting pedestrians during crossing times, according to CHEKPEDS. Increased enforcement and stricter penalties for violators act as deterrents, but progress in mitigating the problem can also be furthered through the installation of more traffic lights known as a Protected Only Phase Signal (PROPS), according to Berthet who is a co-founder of CHEKPEDS.
CB4 members had success in negotiating new policies with NJ Transit and the Port Authority that loosened bus congestion on 10th Ave., but challenges remain with private bus operators in Hell’s Kitchen.
PROPS, also known as split-phase traffic lights, separate the allotted times for pedestrian crossing and automobile turning, increasing safety for both. They also represent a marked change from the previous paradigm of street design, when the priority was the ease with which automobiles could move around rather than pedestrian safety, according to Berthet.
Evening the balance between the two remains key to realizing Vision Zero, she added.
“What we [were] saying essentially…to a pedestrian or a car is ‘Go at it, you go and figure it out for yourself,’ but by definition the car is winning,” she said in an interview.
Managing the expectations of street users is an important strategy in preventing crashes, according to CHEKPEDS, which deemed 2015 in honor of PROPS in a Jan. 3 post on its website (chekpeds.org). Such traffic signals resolve conflicts between pedestrians and drivers who all think that a green light indicates a safe time to move. By having a separate light dedicated to turning, the system also helps alleviate traffic congestion resulting from through traffic getting stuck behind a turning car, said Berthet.
The installation of split-phase traffic lights at W. 23rd St. and Seventh Ave. led to a decrease of 63 percent in injury collisions there, according to CHEKPEDS. The Department of Transportation (DOT) installed two more at the intersections of W. 43rd St. and W. 41st St. with Ninth Ave. last year. CB4 members would like to see PROPS installed at W. 57th St. & Eighth Ave. and W. 57th St. & Ninth Ave. as well.
“This, in my mind, is something that should become ubiquitous in New York City,” Berthet said of PROPS.
She added that DOT engineers are warming to the idea of increasing the use of split-phase signals after years of resistance stemming from concerns that they would impede traffic flow. The department has been more responsive overall to CB4 suggestions since the Vision Zero initiative began, noted Ernest Modarelli, CB4 Transportation Planning Committee co-chair.
He said in an interview that PROPS will be a priority for the committee in 2015, as it has in years past. Work will also continue in determining long-term solutions to traffic congestion in Hell’s Kitchen, where thousands of interstate commuter buses travel each day. The situation there has improved since NJ Transit (NJT) announced last fall that its commuter buses would remain in the Lincoln Tunnel prior to reaching the Port Authority Bus Terminal to pick up and drop off passengers. NJT buses in months previous to the announcement would queue on 10th Ave. resulting in congestion so thick that one CHEKPEDS activist called it “Busaggedon.”
“Until there is a solution — which is very long-term and probably a big idea to relieve congestion — taking measures to improve that situation and the impact it has on pedestrians and just the quality of life is probably my top priority, said Modarelli.
A master plan from the Port Authority outlining long-term plans for the future of the bus terminal as well as a proposed bus depot at Gavin Plaza is expected to be released this Spring. A future extension of the MTA’s 7-Train to New Jersey would also alleviate neighborhood congestion, said Modarelli, a goal that will take years to realize, if ever.
While state and city agencies consider such large top-down projects, smaller projects are being pursued by TA and CB4, which they hope will greatly reduce harm to pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.
The risk of injury to pedestrians increases by about five percent for each additional foot of crossing distance, said DeVito. Pedestrian injuries fell by 59 percent on Ninth Ave. following a redesign which installed pedestrian islands as well as a protected bike lane. TA hopes such success can spread this year to Fifth and Sixth Aves. from W. 14th to W. 59th Sts. — which DOT is currently studying for potential Complete Streets redesigns.
TA gathered more than 145 local businesses and 15,000 petition signatures last year in a successful effort to get DOT to conduct a now-ongoing traffic study of the two avenues.
Installing protected spaces for pedestrians and cyclists comes a bit easier on wide arterial avenues such as these, but doing so on cross-town streets can prove trickier because they are more narrow and space cannot be as easily appropriated from car lanes or parking, DOT Manhattan Borough Commissioner Margaret Forgione said on Dec. 8 at a forum on bike safety hosted by Councilmember Corey Johnson, Chelsea Now reported Dec. 18.
Senior citizens at the forum voiced concerns about the dangers posed by cyclists in Chelsea, a common complaint from neighborhood residents according to Berthet.
But DeVito expressed confidence that as bike lanes become more integrated throughout the borough, sidewalk and wrong-way cycling as well as other problem behaviors will decrease accordingly. The reasons for this, he said, are the same as for why pedestrian islands reduce crossing collisions.
Through popular support of street redesigns, progress will continue this year towards reaching Vision Zero, according to DeVito.
“I think from my experience working with local activists and local community groups, their energy is extremely high and people are extremely optimistic about what can be done in the city. People really understand that the status quo can be greatly improved,” he said. “All of these traffic fatalities, all of these major traffic injuries, they are preventable and we just have to be able to apply the tools we already have available to us.”
