Photo: Matthew Gilbertson
Drivers Have Killed Nine Children in First Half of 2018, Matching Total Child Deaths for All of 2017
With two child pedestrians killed earlier this week, New York City is now on pace to see twice as many child fatalities in 2018 as last year. On Monday, four-year-old Luz Gonzalez lost her shoe on a sidewalk in Bushwick. Her mother ran back for it and bent to strap it on the little girl. Then, with her mother at her feet, a driver ran over Luz with a Nissan Rogue. Earlier that day, 17-year-old Madeline Sershen was crossing the street in front of her school, St. Francis Prep High School in Queens, when an elderly driver sped through a red light and crashed into her. Madeline was pronounced dead less than 30 minutes later.
Lawmakers can and must do more to protect children on New York City's streets, especially where they should feel safest: on the sidewalk and in crosswalks in front of schools. But the city's proven school-based speed camera program will expire on July 25, at which point the 140 speed cameras currently protecting children outside their schools will be turned off. A bill which would renew and expand the speed camera program, S6046-C, is currently being held in committee by Senate Republicans who oppose the child-protection devices.
At the 24-hour vigil outside Senator Golden's office, Families for Safe Streets, anchored by founding member Amy Cohen, will honor their loved ones and the nine children killed by drivers this year in New York City, and demand action from the senator to renew and expand the city's school-based speed safety camera program.
Lawmakers can and must do more to protect children on New York City's streets, especially where they should feel safest: on the sidewalk and in crosswalks in front of schools. But the city's proven school-based speed camera program will expire on July 25, at which point the 140 speed cameras currently protecting children outside their schools will be turned off. A bill which would renew and expand the speed camera program, S6046-C, is currently being held in committee by Senate Republicans who oppose the child-protection devices.
Key findings from the report:
- An analysis of publicly available data and news sources found that, as of June 26, New York City has seen at least nine children aged 17 or younger killed in traffic crashes on New York City streets in 2018. Two-thirds of children killed by drivers so far this year were pedestrians.
- New York City is currently on pace to see twice as many child fatalities in 2018 as last year , and the highest annual total since 2012, before the implementation of Vision Zero.
- While overall traffic fatalities citywide have declined since Vision Zero was implemented, child traffic fatalities continue to grow year-over-year.
Expanding school zone speed safety cameras across New York City is the single most effective way to prevent child traffic deaths. That’s why 64 percent of New York voters, including 70 percent of seniors and 60 percent of car owners, strongly support more speed safety cameras near schools. In order to ensure the cameras continue doing their job, state Senate leaders and the governor must reconvene the Senate and vote on S6046-C.
"We will not sit idly by while an elected official who himself has been caught speeding in school zones 10 times tries to deny us the tools that we know are making the streets safer for our children," Cohen said. "Senator Golden told us with a straight face that he supported expanding the speed safety camera program, only to turn around and suggest scrapping the cameras in favor of stop signs. He should be ashamed."
"This is a crisis. Children are dying, and once speed safety cameras are switched off, drivers are going to be emboldened to break the law and endanger our kids," said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives. "One has to wonder, where does a person find it in themselves to publicly oppose a solution that has proven time and again to reduce speeding, prevent crashes and save lives?"
The report can be found here. More information on the 24-hour vigil:
WHAT: a 24-hour vigil for speed safety cameras outside State Senator Marty Golden's officeWHO: Amy Cohen, founding member of Families for Safe Streets, Transportation Alternatives, City Council Member Justin Brannan, and community membersWHEN: Thursday, June 28, 9 a.m. to Friday, June 29, 9 a.m.WHERE: Senator Marty Golden’s Bay Ridge office, 7408 5th Avenue (between Bay Ridge Parkway & 74th Street), BrooklynWHY: To demand the Senate reconvene and guarantee a vote on S6046‑C, the bill to extend and expand New York City’s proven school-based speed camera program. In New York City school zones where speed cameras have been deployed, speeding dropped 63 percent and pedestrian injuries fell by 23 percent in the first two years. S6046-C would continue the program until 2022 and allow the City of New York to expand the program from 140 cameras to 290.
Begin forwarded message:From: Amy Cohen <amy@familiesforsafestreets.org> Subject: [familiesforsafestreets] Vigil/blockade update and next stepsDate: July 3, 2018 at 1:41:01 PM EDTTo: Families for Safe StreetsThanks to all who’ve made calls, showed up, read the emails and sent good wishes, and more these past few weeks. And a special thanks to the entire TransAlt team. It has been a frenetic pace to try and make change. Before Sammy died and I got involved with FSS, I would never have guessed the level of effort it takes to pass a law. It sometimes can feel overwhelming and infuriating. How can our elected officials ignore our pleas and our pain? We have suffered so much, why are they refusing to prevent these tragedies and act promptly the first time?
But we cannot lose sight of the progress. A week ago, nearly every important elected official from NYC — the Mayor, the Speaker of the NYS Assembly, the NYC Public Advocate, the NYC Comptroller, and over a dozen elected officials showed up and stood with us in support of speed safety cameras. Scores of people showed up for the 24-hour vigil, hundreds of local supporters wrote post-it notes in support of speed safety cameras and put them on my car, and so many people send food and water to keep us fed and hydrated. Local businesses and residents even opened their doors to allow us to cool off and use the bathroom.The vigil concluded with brave FSS/TransAlt members Dana, Debbie, Jane and Jessie joining hands with Council Member Brad Lander. We had planned to blockade Senator Golden’s office because he should be in Albany doing the real work of protecting New Yorkers instead of obstructing progress in Brooklyn. But instead, his staffers told the NYPD that they would not open their doors on Friday. They were too afraid to face us. So we were forced to block the street in order to engage in civil disobedience.The day’s events got lots of press (see list below). Word is getting out that the cameras will go dark on 7/25 if no action is taken. But sadly, there is not yet an immediate commitment for the Senate to return to Albany. So we must continue our fight. We will have many activities between now and 7/25 and then again until school starts in September.As some of you know, Senator Golden has been telling people who call that the Senate will reconvene. However, sadly he does not always tell the truth. After lying to the NYPD that his office would be closed on Friday, they promptly opened at 9am. Then he sent out Tweets to his supporters over the weekend that the cameras are unfair. All this is after he introduced a bill that would end the program in six months and use the revenue to pay unproven safety measures. We cannot let his empty promises result in a step backward for safety.So we will be continuing to fight in the days and weeks ahead. Stay tuned for details. Let me know if you are around this summer and want to help. But please, take a break as I just did the past few days. Take care of yourself. And then stand with us to fight for change.
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