TWO BLOGS IN ONE TODAY: FIVE WOMEN MANGLED IN CAR CRASH INTO POLE IN QUEENS; NEW YORK CITY INTERSECTIONS GETTING COUNTDOWN CLOCKS FOR PEDESTRIAN SAFETY.
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Attorney)
Early on Monday, August 15, 2010 a car wrapped itself around a pole near the intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard and Park Lane South in Woodhaven. New York City EMS workers had to cut five young women from the crushed vehicle.
Pending family notifications, we do not know: The make and model of the car that was in the accident; the names of any of the women in the car; the identity of the car owner or driver; or details about the accident victims' personal injuries.
We do know that four of the women in the car were 18 years old; the other was 21.
Two were taken to Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, and the other three to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. The 21-year-old was listed in critical condition at Jamaica. The conditions of the other four were not disclosed.
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In a move to promote pedestrian safety and lower the number of street-crossing accidents, hundreds of New York City crosswalks are getting pedestrian countdown clocks. The new crosswalk signals will display LED numbers that count down the number of seconds remaining before the "flashing hand" turns a solid red.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration studied the signals in a pilot program of 24 intersections. The city found that the countdown clocks were particularly helpful on wide streets with longer crosswalks. Placement will be focused along wide thoroughfares like Broadway in Manhattan, Queens Boulevard in Queens, Fordham Road in the Bronx, Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn and Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island.
In addition to the countdown clocks, the Department of Transportation will target high-crash, high-volume intersections along such major crosstown two-way corridors as Canal Street, 57th Street and 125th Street for custom redesigns, with such improvements as pedestrian refuge islands.
The strategies stem from a new report, called the Pedestrian Safety and Study Action Plan -- released Monday -- which was based on data from more than 7,000 crash records.
According to the report, walking the streets of New York City is more dangerous than driving on them. Pedestrians accounted for 52 percent of traffic fatalities from 2005 to 2009. Manhattan residents should be especially concerned. According to the study, Manhattan has four times as many pedestrians killed or severely injured per mile compared to the other four boroughs.
"The report and actions detailed today, including the installation of pedestrian countdown signals across the city, will make our streets even safer, especially for the pedestrians who, year in and year out, account for the majority of New York's traffic fatalities," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg Monday.
Bloomberg's administration also announced other measures to improve pedestrian safety. Those include a pilot program of 20 mph speed zones in some residential areas. The city's standard speed limit is 30 mph.
