Deadliest for Walkers: Male Drivers, Left Turns By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM August 16, 2010
It has never been easy to safely navigate the streets of New York, where today automobiles zip inches away from smartphone-carrying pedestrians and the footrace across an intersection seems like a human version of the arcade game Frogger. But a report released Monday by the city's transportation planners offers unusual insights into the precarious life on the city's streets, pinpointing where, when and why pedestrian accidents have most often occurred. The study confirms some of the century-old assumptions about transportation in the country's biggest city, yet it undercuts others. Taxis, it turns out, are not a careering menace: cabs, along with buses and trucks, accounted for far fewer pedestrian accidents in Manhattan than did private automobiles. Jaywalkers were involved in fewer collisions than their law-abiding counterparts who waited for the "walk" sign, though they were likelier to be killed or seriously hurt by the collision. And in 80 percent of city accidents that resulted in a pedestrian's death or serious injury, a male driver was behind the wheel. (Fifty-seven percent of New York City vehicles are registered to men.) The study, which the city's Transportation Department described as the most ambitious of its kind by an American city, examined more than 7,000 crashes that occurred in New York City from 2002 to 2006 and that resulted in the death or serious injury of at least one pedestrian. Equal parts safety manual and urban portrait, the report offers a revealing look at the boroughs, avenues and times of day that were most hazardous to pedestrians and drivers alike. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/nyregion/17walk.html _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list Medianews@etskywarn.net http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
