{"id":1238,"date":"2016-01-20T12:13:54","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T17:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/?p=1238"},"modified":"2016-01-20T12:15:19","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T17:15:19","slug":"tracking-progress-december-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/2016\/01\/tracking-progress-december-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracking Progress: December 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Make Queens Safer began tracking Vision Zero progress in Queens in early 2014, and has sought to present NYPD data in a format that makes patterns and trends in the data easier to understand. <a href=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Tracker-2015-12a.pdf\">\u00a0See our full statistical report tracking Vision Zero progress here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Queens-2015-12.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1243\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1243\" src=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Queens-2015-12.jpg\" alt=\"Queens-2015-12\" width=\"886\" height=\"693\" srcset=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Queens-2015-12.jpg 886w, https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Queens-2015-12-300x235.jpg 300w, https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Queens-2015-12-768x601.jpg 768w, https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Queens-2015-12-619x484.jpg 619w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 886px) 100vw, 886px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Initially, the goal was to present the results with a minimum of commentary, allowing real trends to reveal themselves over time.\u00a0 With the second year of the de Blasio administration\u2019s Vision Zero initiative now concluded, enough time has passed to begin assessing where progress is being made and where it is not.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, the data suggest that Queens is lagging the other four boroughs in key measures of Vision Zero progress, especially total traffic injuries and tickets issued for driving behaviors that put people at risk.\u00a0 In five districts (Community Boards 1, 4, 7, 12, and 13), implementation of Vision Zero has been particularly weak and action to jumpstart street safety improvements is most urgently needed.<\/p>\n<p><u>Fatalities<\/u>. There were 8 traffic fatalities in Queens in December. The neighbors we lost included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Valery Duvert, 50, Driver killed on December 2<sup>nd <\/sup>on South Conduit Avenue at 78<sup>th<\/sup> Street in Ozone Park.<\/li>\n<li>Jorge Bermudez, 30, Driver killed on December 6<sup>th<\/sup> on Laurel Hill Blvd. at 48<sup>th<\/sup> Street in Sunnyside.<\/li>\n<li>Unidentified man, 60, Diver killed on December 7<sup>th<\/sup> on Union Turnpike at 174<sup>th<\/sup> Street in Hillcrest.<\/li>\n<li>Jaramillo Ovidio, 17, Pedestrian killed on December 8<sup>th<\/sup> at Northern Blvd. and Junction Blvd. in Corona, hit and run.<\/li>\n<li>Ramnauth Mahabir, 83, Pedestrian struck on December 12<sup>th<\/sup> at Rockaway Blvd. and 115<sup>th<\/sup> Street in Ozone Park, died two weeks later.<\/li>\n<li>Tarik Williamson, 45, Driver killed on December 16<sup>th<\/sup> on Van Wyck Expressway at 73<sup>rd<\/sup> Avenue in Jamaica.<\/li>\n<li>Giovanna Livolsi, 76, Pedestrian killed on December 16th at Metropolitan Ave. near 75th Street in Middle Village .<\/li>\n<li>Nara An, 24, Passenger killed on December 18<sup>th<\/sup> on Sanford Avenue near 155<sup>th<\/sup> Street, Murray Hill.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Fatalities-2015-12.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1239\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1239\" src=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Fatalities-2015-12.jpg\" alt=\"Fatalities-2015-12\" width=\"506\" height=\"193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Fatalities-2015-12.jpg 506w, https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Fatalities-2015-12-300x114.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 506px) 100vw, 506px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In 2015, there were 74 overall traffic fatalities in Queens according to NYPD statistics, down 20% from the 93 people killed in 2013, the Vision Zero benchmark year. Citywide, there was an 18% decline in fatalities.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>This result represents encouraging progress for year two of the Vision Zero initiative<\/strong>.\u00a0 Fatality counts for specific classes of road users within specific boroughs are small numbers and are subject to random variation, so care should be taken not to assign too much significance to results within these results.<\/p>\n<p><u>Injuries<\/u>. \u00a0Citywide, there has been an overall reduction of 7% in traffic injuries, relative to 2013. \u00a0However,\u00a0<strong>Queens has seen no such improvement, with total injuries 0.9% higher in 2015 relative to 2013.\u00a0 Queens has lagged behind all other boroughs in reducing traffic injuries.<\/strong>\u00a0 Manhattan has seen a 14% reduction, Staten Island has seen a 9% reduction, and the Bronx and Brooklyn have seen 8% reductions.<\/p>\n<p>In the calendar year 2015\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There have been 2,430 pedestrians injured in Queens by motor vehicles, a decline of 13% from 2013. In the other boroughs, there have been reductions from 16% (Brooklyn) to 19% (Manhattan).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>There have been 914 injuries to cyclists, a rise of 11% since 2013. Much of this rise is likely due to the overall increase in cycling rates.\u00a0 Overall, the increase in cyclist injuries in Queens has been greater than the citywide average of 6%.\u00a0 In other boroughs, Brooklyn has seen a 1% reduction in cyclist injuries, Manhattan has seen a 6% increase, Staten Island has seen a 13% increase, and the Bronx has seen a 24% increase.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>There have been 12,320 injuries to motorists and passengers, a rise of 4% since 2013. Queens is the only borough where injuries to drivers and passengers now exceed 2013 levels.\u00a0 In the other boroughs, injuries to motor vehicle occupants have declined by 6% (Brooklyn) to 15% (Manhattan).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Injuries-2015-12.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1240\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1240\" src=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Injuries-2015-12.jpg\" alt=\"Injuries-2015-12\" width=\"506\" height=\"193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Injuries-2015-12.jpg 506w, https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Injuries-2015-12-300x114.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 506px) 100vw, 506px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Overall, there have been 15,664 people injured in motor vehicle crashes in Queens over the past year. \u00a0The following Queens neighborhoods have total traffic injuries at or above 2013 levels:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>CB 1 \/ 114<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Astoria): +4%<\/li>\n<li>CB 6 \/ 112<sup>th<\/sup> Precinct (Forest Hills\/Rego Park): +1%<\/li>\n<li>CB 7 \/ 109<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Flushing\/College Point\/Whitestone): +8%<\/li>\n<li>CB 9 \/ 102<sup>nd<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Kew Gardens\/Richmond Hill\/Woodhaven): +7%<\/li>\n<li>CB 10 \/ 106<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Ozone Park\/Howard Beach): +13%<\/li>\n<li>CB 11 \/ 111<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Bayside\/Douglaston\/Auburndale): +1%<\/li>\n<li>CB 12 \/ 103<sup>rd<\/sup>\u00a0&amp; 113<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precincts (Jamaica\/S. Jamaica\/Hollis): +5%<\/li>\n<li>CB 13 \/ 105<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Queens Village\/Glen Oaks\/Laurelton): +9%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><u><\/u><u>Enforcement<\/u>. For the past two years, Make Queens Safer has been tracking tickets issued for four key moving violations that directly impact safety of vulnerable users of city streets: speeding, disobeying red signals, not giving right of way to pedestrians, and illegal cell phone use.\u00a0 Overall, while enforcement of speeding, red light running, and not yielding to pedestrians remains significantly higher than pre-Vision Zero levels, tickets issued for cell phone use, an important contributor to distracted driving, remains sharply down.<\/p>\n<p>Taken together, total enforcement actions for these four violations are virtually unchanged in Queens relative to 2013 levels.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Queens lags all of the other boroughs by this metric<\/strong>.\u00a0 Total enforcement actions across these four categories are up 40% in the Bronx, 23% in Staten Island, 11% in Manhattan, and 6% in Brooklyn.\u00a0 Across the city as a whole, they are up 18%.\u00a0 These figures do not include tickets issued for automatic red light cameras or speed cameras.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Enforcement-2015-12.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1241\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1241\" src=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Enforcement-2015-12.jpg\" alt=\"Enforcement-2015-12\" width=\"599\" height=\"215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Enforcement-2015-12.jpg 599w, https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Enforcement-2015-12-300x108.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Several Queens neighborhoods are seeing significantly fewer traffic tickets written for these violations by their local police precincts relative to 2013 levels:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>CB 1 \/ 114<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Astoria): -26%<\/li>\n<li>CB 4 \/ 110<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Corona\/Elmhurst): -30%<\/li>\n<li>CB 7 \/ 109<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Flushing\/College Point\/Whitestone): -34%<\/li>\n<li>CB 13 \/ 105<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Queens Village\/Glen Oaks\/Laurelton): -8%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It may be argued that this picture is distorted by the inclusion of cell phone violations, which are down sharply as an increasing number of drivers comply with the law by using hands-free devices.\u00a0 If this is indeed the reason for the decline, the failure is in the law itself.\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aaafoundation.org\/measuring-cognitive-distraction-automobile-iii\">Research by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety<\/a>\u00a0shows that even hands-free devices impose a significant cognitive workload on drivers, distracting them for up to 27 seconds beyond their immediate interactions with the device.\u00a0 The NYPD\u2019s own crash statistics indicate that driver distraction is one of the leading factors contributing to crashes in Queens, and citations of driver distraction as a factor in Queens crashes have nearly doubled in the past few years.\u00a0 So it may be the case that outdated law is rendering enforcement in this area less effective over time, but fundamentally driver distraction remains a serious, growing, and unaddressed problem.<\/p>\n<p>Another limitation of the methodology used here is that it does not recognize the work by many precincts to conduct informational traffic stops.\u00a0 These providing valuable opportunities to educate drivers about traffic safety without issuing tickets, but do not show up in the statistics.\u00a0 The indicators here are not intended to capture the full scope of Vision Zero efforts, but they do provide useful insights into the scope of enforcement efforts, which are critical to changing the culture of driving in the city.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the Vision Zero effort, NYPD received resources to hire additional traffic safety officers.\u00a0\u00a0 Based on the statistics presented here, there is little evidence that these greater workforce numbers are translating into greater enforcement on the ground.\u00a0 NYPD should provide an accounting of how it is using its Vision Zero budget allocations.<\/p>\n<p><u>Conclusions<\/u>.\u00a0 The following neighborhoods have demonstrated noteworthy progress by\u00a0reducing traffic injuries\/fatalities\u00a0<u>and<\/u>\u00a0(2) by continuing to step up enforcement relative to 2013 levels by more than the citywide average of 18%:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>CB 2 \/ 108<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Woodside\/Sunnyside)<\/li>\n<li>CB 5 \/ 104<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Glendale\/Ridgewood\/Maspeth)<\/li>\n<li>CB 8 \/ 107<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Fresh Meadows\/Briarwood\/Pomonok)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>NYCDOT, NYPD, the community boards, and local elected officials are to be commended for their efforts in these areas, and encouraged to keep up their efforts to make continued progress.<\/p>\n<p>Several other neighborhoods have lagged in taking steps commensurate with the scale of this crisis in public safety. \u00a0In particular, more aggressive action to implement Vision Zero is needed in the following communities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>CB 1 \/ 114<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Astoria) has seen a slight rise in overall traffic injuries, and a sharp reduction in traffic enforcement. While elected officials in this area are strongly supportive of traffic safety measures, the community board has often been in opposition.\u00a0 As a result, NYCDOT\u2019s prescriptions for this area have so far been weak.\u00a0 The area especially needs measures to combat speeding and more intersections with safe pedestrian crossings on 21<sup>st<\/sup>\u00a0Street and other key corridors.\u00a0\u00a0 One bright spot has been a 13% reduction in cyclist injuries in this area, despite an 11% rise in cyclist injuries boroughwide.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>CB 4 \/ 110<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Corona\/Elmhurst) has a sharp decline in enforcement against driver behaviors that put vulnerable road users at risk. It has also seen a mixed record of political support for street safety improvements.\u00a0 With strong backing from city councilmembers, the DOT implemented one of its first \u201cneighborhood slow zones\u201d in Elmhurst.\u00a0 But DOT\u2019s proposed safety improvements on 111<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Street have run into opposition from the Community Board\u2019s entrenched transportation committee.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>CB 7 \/ 109<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Flushing\/College Point\/Whitestone) is one of the worst hotspots for pedestrian injuries in Queens, and has seen some of the weakest Vision Zero implementation. The sidewalk widths on Main Street and Kissena Blvd. are completely inadequate to serve pedestrian flows safely, and require urgent action to widen them and manage the flow of traffic through the area, far beyond what NYCDOT has proposed so far.\u00a0\u00a0 Many intersections along this corridor are unsafe (especially those at 40<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Road, 41<sup>st<\/sup>\u00a0Avenue, and 41<sup>st<\/sup>\u00a0Road), and require active management by NYPD until they can be re-engineered.\u00a0\u00a0 Meanwhile, the Community Board and the Department of City Planning continue to treat Downtown Flushing like a suburban edge city, packing in far more parking than the area needs or can safely handle.\u00a0 They have created incredibly unsafe situations like the busy garage entrance to the Skyview Mall at 40<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Road and Main Street.\u00a0 Amid all of these problems, the 109<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct\u2019s traffic safety enforcement actions have declined 34 percent since 2013, the worst record in Queens, and it has virtually no visible presence in Downtown Flushing beyond a booth at the corner of Main and Kissena.\u00a0 Leadership is needed for progress to be made here.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>CB 12 \/ 103<sup>rd<\/sup>\u00a0&amp; 113<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precincts (Jamaica\/S. Jamaica\/Hollis) sees more pedestrian injuries and total injuries than any other community board, but like Flushing, it is another area that has been neglected by the Vision Zero program. Its traffic injury rates and traffic enforcement have fluctuated, but remain close to unchanged since 2013.\u00a0\u00a0 Given the high pedestrian injury rates here, Jamaica also needs some real leadership to begin making progress on Vision Zero goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>CB 13 \/ 105<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Precinct (Queens Village\/Glen Oaks\/Laurelton), on the positive side, has cut its traffic fatalities in half since 2013. But by other measures it has also lagged in Vision Zero implementation.\u00a0\u00a0 Injuries are up, enforcement actions are down, and it is the only neighborhood in Queens that had fewer tickets issued across the four categories tracked here than people injured in traffic over the past year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This analysis clearly raises more questions than it answers.\u00a0 It does not explain why injury or fatality rates are rising or falling in specific areas, or why enforcement patterns appear to be changing in certain ways.\u00a0 \u00a0But these are important questions, and the people entrusted with making the streets safer \u2013 the police precincts, the Department of Transportation, and the Community Boards \u2013 should begin attempting to answer them in earnest over the next year.\u00a0 The de Blasio Administration\u2019s Vision Zero initiative has been characterized by a highly data-driven approach, and it is time for the city to start shining a brighter analytical light on where it appears to be working and where greater efforts are needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Make Queens Safer began tracking Vision Zero progress in Queens in early 2014, and has sought to present NYPD data in a format that makes patterns and trends in the data easier to understand. \u00a0See our full statistical report tracking Vision Zero progress here. Initially, the goal was to present the results with a minimum [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1238"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1246,"href":"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions\/1246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/makequeenssafer.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}