City to Install Pedestrian Countdown Clocks on Staten Island
The City of New York is expanding a pilot program that installed countdown clocks at longer intersections, letting pedestrians know how much time they have left to cross the street before the light changes. At intersections with longer crosswalks, pedestrians, especially the elderly, were unable to finish crossing the street before the light changed. Many Staten Island residents know how dangerous intersections, such as Hylan Boulevard and New Dorp Lane, can be if you are still in the street when the light changes. In fact, that intersection was one of the first to be installed under the pilot program because of the high rate of pedestrian/car accidents that occurred at the Staten Island intersection.
Within the next month, 1,500 intersections throughout the City will get the countdown clock. Each year, there are more than 5,000 pedestrian traffic deaths in the United States. The countdown clocks aim to help reduce pedestrian deaths at intersections by letting a pedestrian know just how much time is left to cross so they can make a safer decision whether or not to wait for the next traffic light cycle.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has mandated that countdown timers be installed in certain intersections by December 22, 2013, or sooner if the current equipment needs to be replaced. The City of New York will begin to install the countdown timers this month and will also implement speed reductions to 20 m.p.h. in certain neighborhoods that have high accident rates. Again, as we can't make the driver's safer, we need to find other ways to protect pedestrians. The New York City Pedestrian Study and Safety Action Plan is a major step forward towards protecting the hundreds of thousands of pedestrians that use our roadways each day.
