In our last newsletter we wrote about our community’s tough fight and ultimate victory getting DOT to install stop signs and cross walks at the intersection of Summit and Columbia Street.
Bryan Walsh, in his August 4 article for Vox’s Future Perfect section, The simple idea that helped prevent millions of traffic deaths” (subscription required) begins right at that very spot:
“Let me start with the most local of local stories: the intersection down the street from my apartment in Brooklyn, New York, where Columbia Street meets Summit Street.”
He goes on to observe what many of our residents would agree with: “…I’ve hated this intersection. It has no stop signs, no crosswalks, no signal. Crossing on foot with my son has meant grabbing his hand and hoping any oncoming cars would slow down, which, given that this is New York City, is maybe a 50/50 proposition at best. Everyone knew a stop sign or signal was needed, but the city did nothing.”
And then Bryan tells our story! And includes a link to our new site! (so Future Perfect readers got to see it first!).
“That finally began to change late last year, after a 10-year-old girl was struck and injured by a car just two blocks north of the intersection. The neighborhood organized, packed a public meeting, and eventually walked a city official down the block so he could stand in the intersection and see what they saw every day. Which is how I woke up on July 17 to see four stop signs and freshly painted crosswalks at the intersection I hated so much.”
Bryan goes on to tell trace how car safety has improved tremendously over the last century, driven by the realization of a doctor, William Haddon Jr., that car accidents were system failures “and understood cars had to be designed to protect drivers against themselves.” But pedestrian safety has lagged, even with Vision Zero initiatives in NYC and across the globe. As Bryan writes, “There are more dangerous intersections in this country than there are communities with the voice and the stamina to demand fixes. A real Vision Zero wouldn’t wait for the crash; it would identify which intersections could kill someone and fix those first.”
We can all agree with that statement, while feeling proud we do have the voice and stamina to demand fixes – and get them. Thank you, Bryan, for sharing our neighborhood story and tying the hyper local to the global theme of pedestrian safety.