New Yorkers gather to create thorough traffic safety plan

It truly does take a village to improve traffic safety. One person could be a perfectly safe driver, but if the motorist next to him isn’t as responsible, an accident can happen anyway. New York lawmakers can have traffic laws on the books, but if just one driver ignores them, someone will get hurt anyway.

The realities behind motor vehicle accidents are frustrating. If more people were involved in fostering a safer driving environment in New York, perhaps fewer people would die or be injured in accidents within the city. Hopefully, that safety in numbers will created with New York’s Vision Zero plan.

Lawmakers, traffic safety officials and others invested in the safety of New York drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians are working together to brainstorm and implement a multifaceted plan to make the five boroughs safer for all. A recent meeting in Manhattan produced the following ideas regarding preventing traffic accidents:

• Add more pedestrian signals at intersections throughout the city.
• Lower the speed limit within the city.
• Post signs at traffic lights that state right turns on red are illegal.
• Enact stricter laws against taxi drivers who are responsible for accidents that cause injury or death.
• Add more lessons about pedestrian safety in schools and in the DMV.

The above ideas are just some of the ideas that officials and members of the New York community have discussed thus far. Vision Zero is still just a plan, a vision of safer roads and saved lives that people are still trying to clarify.

Entirely safe roads are unfortunately still just a dreamer’s vision. Crashes happen. People get hurt. Someone who is a victim of the negligence that the Vision Zero aims to prevent should work with a personal injury lawyer who has experience recovering damages for accident victims.

Source: Examiner, “NYC elected officials host Vision Zero town hall in Manhattan,” Madina Toure, March 27, 2014