Testimony submitted to New York City
City Council Oversight Committee
Re: Queens Boulevard Safety
Alan Ziess
Founding Member
Forest Hills/ Rego Park Crosswalks
January 11, 2001

Forest Hills / Rego Park Crosswalks is a grassroots organization, whose primary mission is to change traffic policy in our community so that pedestrians have safe access to our streets. We are not anti-motorist, anti-government, or exclusively pro-pedestrian. We advocate safety and fairness for our community through the proper adherence of laws by all and equal protection by government for all our citizens. Our ultimate goal is to restore the rule of law and respect for our community in transportation.

For too long, transportation policy is, by and large, traffic policy. This means that transportation agencies concern themselves primarily or exclusively with streets and roads, and treat them simply as conduits for motor vehicles passing through neighborhoods rather than the interests of residents, pedestrians, or bicyclists. When it comes to transportation policy this community has gotten the short end of the stick. Our neighborhood is being burdened by pollution, noise, and danger from other people's traffic. Our streets have become unsafe as a result of the proliferation of traffic through this neighborhood and safety measures are still not done. How many more tragedies must we endure before this city does the right thing?

Transportation agencies in New York City now have a clear duty to consider and present to the public alternative plans and programs to reflect experience in implementing a broader conception of mobility and to make up for decades of neglecting non-motorists' safety and convenience.

On the basis of such principles, this city must now implement these goals when redesigning streets and intersections to slow traffic down; help traffic flow at a steady pace; bring greater predictability and courtesy to the streets; and provide more and better space for pedestrians. It is, therefore, crucial, that roadway design match traffic laws, thereby conveying to both motorist and pedestrian, with certainty, as to who has the right-of-way. When we create a set of laws to go with the facilities we build, they must work together. Roadways built with flawed design create deadly conflicts between pedestrians and motorists. Until we resolve to build roadways to accommodate a five-year old child crossing the street with their elderly grandparent, we will only perpetuate the same recipe for disaster. Moreover, crosswalks must be preserved as a safe haven for pedestrians and not as a utility for standing or parking of trucks or automobiles.

Seventy-one pedestrian fatalities, countless pedestrian injuries, and the impact to the Quality Of Life to our community have not guided the Dot to finally do the right thing after decades of neglect. These dire statistics are the direct result of fine- tuning by the DOT to enhance the level of service to motorist's daily commute in order to shave 5 to 15 minutes of travel time and to alleviate minor congestion during a few hours each day. This is an extreme price to pay to accommodate misguided goals. No law states that traffic has to move fast or congestion has to be eliminated. If motorists insist on driving to Manhattan despite major congestion problems they can certainly endure minor delays in this community. The overall general effect of uncontrolled traffic has been to drive people inside and cut the ties that tend to bind the community together. When people are forced to alter their lives in such ways, their quality of life suffers. Many of the simple pleasures of daily life-walking casually down the street, enjoying the scene, bumping into friends, getting to know neighbors by seeing them over and over again-are diminished.

In a Daily News article of December 10, 2000, in response to the death of Sofia Leviyev, NYC DOT Commissioner Weinshall indicated that the first phase of a $5 million safety project for Queens Boulevard had been completed, The Commissioner, further, indicated that traffic signal green times have been increased to let pedestrians cross during off-peak hours. However peak hours include increased pedestrian activity, as well, including school children walking home and at play.  Safety and convenience should not only be limited to off-peak hours but should exist 24 hours per day.

We carefully reviewed the safety modifications recently completed at the intersection of Yellowstone Boulevard, identified as one of the most dangerous, and determined that little, if any, improvement was made in the interest of pedestrian safety and convenience. Pedestrians, when legally crossing within any crosswalk continue to be at extreme risk, especially, when crossing in easterly and westerly directions, which affords only a 10 second walk cycle. Pedestrians at the southwest corner, walking east have absolutely no visibility of oncoming right-turning vehicles, thereby placing pedestrians in extreme danger. Traffic congestion occurs during every evening rush hour creating total gridlock and confusion. Center medians offer pedestrians inadequate space and safety while waiting to resume crossing Queens Boulevard. Vehicles routinely run the red light signal at the southern crosswalk, basically because it is barely visible or they don't care. A thorough review and redesign by safety and traffic engineers, and traffic enforcement agencies must be made at this intersection in order to create a safer environment. If Yellowstone Boulevard is any indication of DOT's plan of "safety improvements", then the residents of this community will remain at extreme risk, and this plan is doomed for failure.

The Safety Study merely focuses on the movement of traffic, but it does not concern itself with this community's residents or the necessity to preserve community activities. The study quantifies how many pedestrians cross at a particular intersection, but it does not count how many of our residents

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