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

Vendors
Vendors set up their carts at places with the maximum potential customers, often at street
corners, adding to the congestion of an already crowded area and often forcing pedestrians off of
the sidewalk and into the street. In New York City, this problem exists particularly in areas that
attract visitors, such as Times Square, Herald Square, along Canal Street, and in major parks,
such as Central Park and Battery Park. In the parks, this vendor practice might block emergency
vehicles and jeopardize pedestrian safety. In suburban areas, coffee trucks and other vendor
trucks set up along highway shoulders, at congested areas without regulation or driveway
controls and attracting pedestrians and vehicles. They create a hazard for pedestrians, bicyclists,
and motorists.
Bicycle-pedestrian conflicts
Conflicts can occur in several different ways. In some cases the pedestrians and bicycles are
sharing common pathways; in others, one or both are acting against rules or are in the other’s
territory. Bicycles at times either run red lights or cross the stop line in order to get an early
start, while pedestrians, not expecting moving vehicles (motorized or non-motorized), are
crossing with the “walk” signal. Some bicyclists ride on the sidewalk, which is generally
prohibited by law except for specific age groups. There are cases when bicyclists pass stopped
buses on the right, endangering passengers that are getting off the bus. Pedestrians also can
encroach on the bicyclists’ space, for example, by stepping from the curb to the street or into a
bicycle lane without looking for approaching bicycles.
Heavy congestion at intersections
When congestion is very heavy, vehicles may be stopped in the intersection when the traffic
signal turns red. Pedestrians who were waiting to cross will often proceed when their signal says
walk and weave through the cars. If the vehicular blockage clears, the vehicles may start to
move, endangering the pedestrians amongst them. A common variation on this is turning
vehicles blocked by a continuous flow of pedestrians; when the signal changes and the stream of
pedestrian stops, pedestrians crossing in the other direction have already started weaving through
the vehicles.
Table 4.1 lists locations based on statistical analysis of high pedestrian crash locations or taken
from documents provided by the organizations that were interviewed. The crash data is typically
from several years ago (2004 at the latest, with most of the data from 2002 or earlier). In many
cases, the relevant agencies have installed safety improvement treatments already. Additionally,
specific locations were reported in the interviews or during public meetings and gathered from
other public outreach efforts. These locations, shown in Table 4.2, are based on people’s
experience or perceptions. The crash data does not necessarily indicate that the location is
unsafe for pedestrians; this may be because pedestrian exposure is low (pedestrians may avoid it
because they think it is unsafe) or because no crash has yet occurred due to the random nature of
crashes or because the location is not unsafe. Even in the latter case, the input is valuable to
understanding the communities’ perceptions and the needs of the communities in the
development of programs for safety improvements.
NYMTC Pedestrian Safety Study 43