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Our Town, May 25, 2006, "Making Streets Safer for Seniors"

by James Caldwell

 

            Most New Yorkers don't think twice about crossing the street.  The signal changes and you go, striding in front of the cars and trucks idling impatiently, waiting to barrel on.

            But for seniors this everyday act can be difficult-and dangerous.  According to the group Transportation Alternatives, last year seniors made up only 12 percent of New York's population, but accounted for 33 percent of vehicle injuries and fatalities.

            An advocacy group for pedestrian safety since 1973, Transportation Alternatives has now proposed an ambitious campaign to create "Elder Districts" throughout Manhattan, which would enact specific guidelines for neighborhoods with high populations of seniors. 

            The campaign, an extension of the group's northern Manhattan-based "Safe Routes for Seniors" program, aims to end what the organization calls "the epidemic of death and disability of the elderly from vehicle crashes."

            The top priority of the program would be to retime pedestrian signals to give seniors adequate time to cross the street.  Specifically, signals would be set to reflect a walking speed of 2.5 feet per second, rather than 4 feet per second, the speed of most pedestrians.  Other initiatives in the plan include installing pedestrian refuges in streets wider than 90 feet, creating pedestrian ramps at all curbs, and limiting speeds on residential streets to 20 miles per hour.

            The first stage of the Elder Districts plan would target the 15 most dangerous between 14th and 155th streets, including 72nd, 79th, and 89th streets.

            Amy Pfeiffer, a program director at Transportation Alternatives, said the first locations would serve as models, and that ideally the program would then expand to senior-heavy neighborhoods.  She added that the Elder Districts initiatives would benefit everyone, not just the elderly.

            "This is to help seniors obviously" she said, "but really, it's about doing good for everyone."

            On May 5, East Side State Sen. Liz Krueger sponsored a meeting for elected officials to hear from Transportation Alternatives about the proposed program.

            "The idea was to see whether, in a relatively cost effective way, we could make these 15 most dangerous streets safer through a series of successful models in transportation planning," she said.

            "The study and report were extremely cogent and well presented," Council Member John Liu, chair of the Transportation Committee, said. "Some of the changes are significant and may take some time, but it does seem to be the right direction for the city to go in."

            "This is a real issue," he added. "We should not go on forever pretending that is not a real issue. Although it cannot be addressed overnight, we have to move in this direction."

            As the campaign for the plan moves forward, Transportation Alternatives will be looking for a sponsor in the City Council that would help turn Elder Districts into a city-wide program.

            Ellen Ensig-Brodsky, 73, knows well the issue at hand.

            "I am certainly aware of it all the time," she said. "I have almost been hit-a hairs breadth away from being hit by a car-at least eight times in the last couple of years.  I was amazed that I got to the other side"

            Ensig-Brodsky is in a unique position to witness the problem.  In addition to being a senior pedestrian living in Midtown, she is president of the Manhattan Borough Wide Interagency Council on Aging (MBIAC).

            As a full-time advocate for senior issues, she is realistic, yet hopeful, about building political support for Elder Districts. 

            "My experience as an aging advocate [tells me]-don't hold your breath," she said. "But you must start someplace.  You must plant the seed."

            State Sen. Krueger recognized the potential for objections to re-timing lights in senior neighborhoods, but stressed that it did not deter from the importance of giving seniors enough time to cross the street.

            "Any time that you change anything on Manhattan Island there is opposition," she said. "But why wouldn't we factor in the needs of pedestrians to our planning and our thinking?  I think a fair answer is that we have not done nearly enough."

            "It's about allowing seniors to remain in the city," Council Member Liu said. "They built this city. Why would we not want to make it so they can stay?"

 

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