Closing Bell: Mayor de Blasio Visited Woodside to Talk Traffic Fatalities

This afternoon, Mayor de Blasio visited PS 152 in Woodside along with Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. He took the opportunity to unveil some initiatives to reduce traffic deaths and injuries — he already expressed his “Vision Zero” goal of eliminating traffic fatalities within ten years. Streetsblog listed some initial highlights from the press conference, which include a coming speed ticket blitz, tickets issued from speed cam monitoring, and “concrete plans” laid out by February 15th. Transportation Alternatives also issued a statement on the initiative:

We welcome Mayor de Blasio’s announcement of an interagency partnership to move New York City toward Vision Zero, the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2024. It’s an important step in the right direction, after a discouraging spike in pedestrian fatalities, one that has included the deaths of several children…

Traffic deaths are preventable. We know what causes them, so we can take action to stop them from happening in the first place. We need to redesign more dangerous corridors and intersections. We must dedicate more officers to crash investigations and traffic enforcement, to combat the most deadly violations, speeding and failure to yield. We need the vast expansion of the 20mph speed limit, and we need to expand the use of enforcement cameras that issue tickets, not just warnings. We are heartened by today’s announcement that the city is moving ahead with all of these initiatives.

Photo via Twitter