NYMTC Regional Pedestrian Safety Study - New York Metropolitan ...

stronger pedestrian orientation; these include Safety Education and the newly created Safety and
Street Management Division.
The first of NYCDOT’s five goals is to:
Provide safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible movement of pedestrians, goods, and
vehicular traffic on the streets, highways, bridges, and waterways of the City's transportation
network. [Source: NYCDOT Web page: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/dotdoes.html]
In 1991, NYCDOT had a goal of reducing traffic fatalities by 2000 fatalities per ten years by the
year 2000. This goal was exceeded as fatalities over the decade were reduced by 2618 for the
ten-year period (from the number of fatalities that would have occurred if the 701 fatalities that
occurred in 1990 continued over that ten year period).
New York City Department of City Planning – Transportation Division: The staff of the
Transportation Division of City Planning is organized into teams, one of which is a Bicycle and
Pedestrian team. Additionally, when the traffic engineering team works on a project involving
pedestrian issues, they include pedestrian safety in their planning.
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation: There is no formal pedestrian safety
program; however, they are responsible for pedestrian planning and safety within park
boundaries. They have done a study of impact of vendors on pedestrian congestion.
New York City Police Department (NYPD): The NYPD has instituted a Traffic Stat Program,
which holds precinct commanders responsible for traffic crashes in their precinct. The program
is discussed in more detail in Section 5.4.1 (Strategies and Technologies: Traffic Safety Teams).
Regional Agencies
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey: The Port Authority addresses pedestrian safety
within their Traffic Safety Improvement Program. They are responsible for pedestrian safety at
all Port Authority facilities including airports, terminals, bridges, and tunnels. They have also
undertaken pedestrian safety projects near their facilities in conjunction with local agencies in
New York State or New Jersey. The Port Authority has an exemplary Traffic Safety
Improvement Program (TSIP), which has received an award from the Institute of Transportation
Engineers (ITE). The TSIP consists of the following components:
1. Planning
a. Analysis of crash data (using AAMS; see below)
b. Safety audits of signalized intersections
c. Identification of deficient or missing roadside safety hardware
2. Implementation
a. Develop mitigation measures for priority crash locations from annual crash report
b. Develop enhancements for traffic control devices
c. Replace and refurbish roadside safety hardware
3. Evaluation
a. Performance measures:
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