Crossing Guards for Grown-Ups? Yes, Traffic Is That Bad

And who said life in the big city is safer with longer life expentency than rural folks? If it were true than "Adult" crossing guards wouldn't be needed. Gee, I've heard enough. Good riddance to NYC. Glad i made the move long ago.

Bring back the medallion for cars used for hire. If you want to drive for Lyft or Uber go ahead but to drive in Manhattan they should be required to be licensed and taxed. A hack license and a permit for the vehicle should be mandated. Problem solved. Except for delivery vehicles and licensed cars for hire a hefty congestion fee should also be charged. To make it fair, the fee should be graduated to the value of the car. A guy driving a 20 year old ford should be charged a lot less than a jerk in a new 6 series BMW. This tax to be collected to the entrance to the bridge/tunnel heading into the city. Add one to the 59th street bridge. Can also adjust tax as to number of occupants in the car. One person cars get a hefty surcharge.

I'm in that area all the time, particularly the oddly shaped intersection of Canal, Church, and Greene. Without fail, every single time, drivers travelling on Canal get backed up into the crosswalk that crosses Canal, forcing pedestrians who have the right of way to leave the crosswalk, weave through four lanes of cars and trucks stopped in the intersection/crosswalk (some of which can't even see the pedestrians), and veer directly into the path of cars that have green lights to either turn from Church onto Canal or cross Canal from Church to Greene. It's *extremely* dangerous for pedestrians. "Helping" us cross the street is a joke that costs a lot of money and does absolutely nothing to solve the problem, which is that drivers feel so entitled to the street that they push through at the last second (trying to shave maybe three seconds off their journey) when there is no room for them to make it across. This endangers real, live, human beings in the process. These officers should be ticketing every single driver that blocks the box or gets stopped in the crosswalk because they went when there wasn't enough room for them to get across the intersection. That would solve the problem and pay for the existence of these officers. Drivers have to be taught that other people use the streets and that *they* are a real danger when they drive irresponsibly. Fine them until they get the message to simply wait 30 seconds for the next light. The horror...

I walked to and from work every day for over 20 years in lower Manhattan thru the neighborhood of Hudson Square from my apartment in Greenwich Village. The traffic on Canal Street is out of control; the crossing guards, in my experience, only care about moving traffic. They have no concern for pedestrians. I have told them so many times. I don't know the solution to this situation; the city doesn't care. I suggest that Canal Street be lowered (paid for by a surcharge on cars entering Manhattan from Brooklyn and New Jersey; don't like this proposal, there's public transportation) and pedestrian bridges be built across it at street level. Bob Newman

Intersections all over the city, but especially near major river crossings, are inundated with drivers who cannot be bothered to follow rules against entering an intersection with no clear path out. As a result, pedestrians have to dodge cars in crosswalks when crossing with the light. A rational approach would involve implementing policies to reduce the number of cars, and ticketing those drivers who block crosswalks. Instead of stepped up enforcement of traffic rules, NYC's solution is crossing guards to help pedestrians avoid getting killed by drivers who cannot be bothered to follow the law. All this because our mayor would not dare inconvenience drivers in the name of pedestrian safety. This is a broken system.

Since 2014 an invasive species called Uber, along with Lyft and the others, has been permitted to add 130,000 vehicles onto the streets of NYC. It's put the congestion situation over the tipping point in Manhattan below 60th (not 96th) Street. Last August the city capped their numbers at its present level for one year while an environmental impact study is made. Truthfully, this study can be done by any pedestrian. Before you begin your journey across a crowded intersection in Manhattan, look around and note how many vehicles within your line of vision have license plates that begin with the letter "T" and end with "C". Those are the Ubers and the others. Among other things that conceivably could be done, certainly a reduction of these licenses, by a significant percentage, should be mandated by the city council and the mayor.

The existence (or necessity) of these so called crossing guards are evidence of the inadequacy of proper road design and enforcement. Given the lack of commitment by DeBlasio and NYPD to curb dangerous and unlawful driving, these workers are put on display by the city to distract from the fact that this administration does not have a viable plan to manage traffic in NYC. I would like to know the injury statistics of these workers, whose lives are put in jeopardy and who are forced to breathe concentrated exhaust fumes damaging their physical and mental health. The fact that the city does not even supply respirators for these workers only goes to show how ignorant and/or reckless NYC is when dealing with traffic related health issues, which go far beyond bodily injuries sustained in crashes.

What is Mayor DeBlasio, his DOT and NYPD doing to eliminate danger and poor quality of life for pedestrians here and citywide? Absolutely nothing, judging by the need for a program like this! And if your neighborhood can't afford them, you're out of luck!

Enforce the existing laws. In London, no one blocks the intersections and traffic moves, very slowly but at least without gridlocks. In NYC it's a free for all; as the light turns orange, everyone tries to push through simply to get stuck in the middle of the box thus wreaking havoc for all other drivers.

Enforce the law against cell phone use while driving, and make a law that pedestrians cannot use their cell phones while walking, and a lot of traffic problems will be solved. How many times have you seen someone staring at the screen of their cell phone while crossing against a light? How many times have you had to sidestep somebody staring that their screen, oblivious to their surroundings? How many times has traffic been slowed at intersections because a driver is stopped and texting and does not react when the light changes? The cell phone is the most publicly abused device ever created.

The overcrowding leading outbound into the Holland Tunnel actually began in 1986 when tolls on the Verrazano Bridge were reversed as part of an “experiment” by then Gov. Mario Cuomo (to placate those spoiled Staten Islanders) – in the opposite direction of every other tolled bridge or tunnel in the city. So cars traveling Westbound into New Jersey face a $17 toll on the Verrazano Bridge, but ride toll-free into New Jersey via the Holland Tunnel. This is the prime reason traffic is so congested on Varick, Canal and Broome Streets during rush hour outbound. The Dept of Transportation has been silent on this inequity and our local politicians have failed to reverse it. DeBlasio and DOT and Transportation Alternatives act concerned about pedestrian safety, but have done absolutely nothing to prevent these numerous pedestrian injuries on Varick – and actual pedestrian deaths on Canal. Why? How many people must die or be injured before the Verrazano Bridge tolls are reversed back to resemble the tolling of all the other bridges and tunnels? Why has the NY Times had so few articles on this travesty over the past 32 years? Even this article ignores the root problem of this very dangerous situation – not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars in toll lost to this inequity over the past four decades.

Sounds like a good idea. Why not? NYC is full of senseless drivers who do everything in speed.

So it is in a dense, walkable and transit friendly city that astonishingly, still sacrifices the livelihood of its majority to accommodate senseless drivers, largely from outside the five boros. But this is NYC, an innovative model of urbanism...

I, for one, think that this is ridiculous. I learned how to cross a street on my own when I was a kid so I don't need someone trying to tell me what to do now that I'm an adult. If you want to have someone help with traffic (don't block the box!!), then that's one thing. But I can't see how these people do anything for pedestrians.

Wonderful! Thank you!

Crossing guards for 'grown-ups'.....typical, blame NYC traffic - something new in the City?? No-o-o just that these days absolutely no one is paying attention to what they are doing. How many 'grown-ups' waiting to cross the street are actually looking at their cellphones - how many drivers are doing the same thing? Hopefully the crossing guard knows what he/she is doing ---- However, it if means more employment for those who are not college grads, then OK - No! Wait! That would mean in increase in City taxes. My,My

NYC is a traffic free for all, bikes going event which way, pedestrians crossing with their heads planted downwards on their phones, hordes of Uber cars clogging the streets . Our streets are starting to resemble many streets in developing countries

Ban cars from Manhattan.

Two words: Congestion pricing.

The time has come for boom-gates like those used at railroad crossings. The boom starts coming down when the traffic light turns yellow., and starts going up when the walk signal turns to a flashing red hand.

At 61 years old I'm not a senior, but my eyeglasses are trifocals and when there is a lot of traffic in the crosswalk it is difficult to determine what's at your feet, especially when it snows, but I mean the curb now that there are islands in the middle of the road where bike lanes are inside. I tripped over one of those curbs one day putting me in flight all the way to the sidewalk where I landed. There was a children's crossing guard there at 8th Ave and 23rd who stood there and watched me pick myself up off the ground while someone eating at a hot dog stand called me an idiot. I don't hang around New York City too much anymore, my bike gathers dust in my apartment basement.

6th Avenue is horrible daily. Tourist visiting Rockefellers Center & Radio City there is daily gridlock. Traffic daily is gridlock in front of the Hilton Hotel and has got worse since the removal of the Hilton Hotel driveway. How does a 2000 room hotel get the buildings dept to approve a removal of a driveway with no traffic study?

Let’s get serious and get our mass transit working again. Then ban cars into Manhattan. Problem solved.

I live and work in the neighborhood and the traffic in the afternoons has always been terrible because of the tunnel. The pedestrian managers help but I've still had several close calls even when they were standing a few feet away. Its time the city posted a police officer at each intersection to give out tickets to drivers running lights and making illegal right on red turns from Spring Street. That might make a difference. The police should have been in the neighborhood years ago as this has been an ongoing problem..

How about building walkways/crossovers that separate cars and pedestrians where possible? Will save money in the long run. These have always worked over the parkways and highways. Maybe it's time to bring them to Manhattan streets.

Thanks to these hard-working folks who keep pedestrians safe in a busy city! It's a tough job, and many of us appreciate you. Also, I am always happy to see a positive story about people helping other people amongst all the bad news.

A lot of the reason there's so much conflict is because it's nearly impossible for cars to make a turn (R or L) in many busy intersections. There's NO time without pedestrians when they can turn. So ... have dedicated time for pedestrians to cross, then give cars dedicated time WITHOUT pedestrians to turn.

Crossing streets isn't for sissies. In the 1990's, I spent one month with the NYU anesthesia department as a fourth year medical student. Every morning there was at least one somewhat older patient, brought by ambulance, who had been run down by a cab. A very common injury was a broken leg. Among the things I learned that month was to be extremely wary of cabs, especially in NYC which has more cabs than any other city I've been in. There was one morning I came across a crowd surrounding a woman laying on the street, attended by EMT's. From a respectful distance, I visually did a Glasgow Coma Scale on her (a quick, reliable, objective evaluation of level of consciousness, brain injury in trauma patients): her score was terrible. I thought of her all day. In the evening, I called the police department hoping to get an update. They asked if I had seen a pocket book/purse. (I had not.) She had died and, without identification, she was a Jane Doe. This was some 25 years ago and I think of her still. In Shanghai, the walk signal light has an animated figure of a person running. How appropriate. The vehicular traffic was really frightening. I survived by not walking across unless there were several people I could cross the street with. Here's one fix: in the college town of Davis, Ca, several cross walks used by children and UC Davis students have lights embedded in the street; they are triggered to flash when a pedestrian stands on the curb.

As a new person in NYC two thoughts:- 1) look at every crossing that’s blocked. It’s blocked by 99% of the time by and Uber or similar. 2) drivers have no respect for NYPD and they regularly ignore them or just argue. If NYPD handed tickets to put red cameras/box cameras on crossings and ticketed every time things might move. Cut the Uber’s and hand out tickets. Not revolutionary I know.

As other commenters have noted, this a noble solution that doesn’t address the root cause. If a disregard for the laws (on the part of pedestrians or drivers!) leads to pedestrian fatalities, enforce the laws! My state leads the nation in traffic fatalities in large part because what rules we have aren’t enforced at all. In my metro area, we’ve got something like 17 traffic cops covering 2 million people. You think New York drivers are crazy, try Houston or Dallas. In this ignominious capacity, we have you beat!

I have to walk across 57th st at the entrance to Queensboro Bridge. Drivers constantly ignite lights and the traffic cops wave them on as pedestrians attempt to walk across. Wondering about that Zero tolerance campaign our delightful mayor touted... please add the crossing at the Queensboro Bridge as among those most dangerous intersections. And I am not on my phone while crossing...

It occurred to me while visiting your lovely city this week, that New York has streets and sidewalks all wrong. I couldn’t help but consider how many square feet each car requires in comparison to the marching crowds of people using so little space, stuck waiting for the perpetual auto gridlock to clear at each intersection and running for their lives to make some steady progress. All the retail and services that depend on foot traffic, all the wonderful decorations and architecture, the whole New York magic, is held hostage by cars that are holding less than two people while taking up enough space for 15 walkers and using huge portions of pavement that should be used for the majority of humans that are in the city walking or peddling. All the cars you can stuff down your streets don’t pay the rent, stop to make a purchase, or justify the expense of trying to control the snarl and protect the majority of people walking. When is the city going to prioritize resources and focus on the hundreds of thousands of people that are walking and paying the bills to keep this wonderful city growing? The situation created by a minority of people within their personal transportation units is absurd and the people within this great city deserve so much better. Looking into the future, can you imagine a world where the car isn’t the dominant and socially destructive force in a dense and vibrant community? I can.

"They are not the traffic police; they cannot hand out tickets ..." Good thing. NYPD can but doesn't hand out tickets either. But they could hand them out by the busload for "reckless driving", "failure to yield", "failure to obey a traffic signal", "blocking the crosswalk", etc., etc., etc. The reason they need "pedestrian managers" is because NYPD doesn't do their job vis-a-vis pedestrian safety. Motor vehicles own the city.

Too many for hire vehicles on the road! And we need another tunnel - built for the 21st century.

These are very brave men and women. Kudos to them! I live in a one traffic light town and adults would never press "walk" button, it is reserved basically for the schoolchildren. I have lived in urban areas and visited NYC, the stress is considerable even if one thinks one is "used to it".

Yes, traffic, vehicular and human is that bad. There are some midtown streets, like 7th Avenue, where I need to walk in the street, the sidewalks being over-crowded. So how is it that last week it was reported that New York's population is down?

I'm very glad to hear about these new pedestrian traffic police who have the safety of pedestrians in mind. New York City has a plethora of pedestrians because of our citywide public transportation system. Everyone is at risk in our streets; we can all breathe easier knowing the city cares about pedestrians and their safety. This is money well spent .

So that's it. I've wondered who these people are, walking around in traffic and telling us what to do when we're just crossing the street. If they deter scofflaw drivers, that's good, but the city should fine those drivers instead. A few hundred-dollar fines would probably help a driver to respect the law.

We have them in San Francisco as people are too glued to their phones to not walk in front of a truck or bus. But that said, not only are they good for peds, they also help control traffic at bad intersections, so net win all around.

I guess most New Yorkers are too cool to wear safety vests over their almost invariably dark winter clothing. I commuted on foot from GCS to Washington Square/NYU during the 1980 transit strike and would have worn one had I known about them. Here in Alaska, we wear them to walk our dogs in our neighborhood during our long hours of darkness. They cost $10 . . .

It's time for congestion pricing and improved infrastructure for buses, pedestrians, and cyclists. Too much space in this city is dedicated to private automobiles that, more often than not, carry only one person. We need to widen sidewalks in congested areas and build more bus lanes and bike lanes. These are more efficient and environmentally friendly methods--not to mention that they make for a more pleasant city that isn't dominated by noisy, polluting vehicles.

Indeed, I am sure that one day someone is going to be killed by a biker who is going in the wrong direction. At least cars seem to respect the direction of the traffic. I blame Bloomberg and deBlasio for making the city more dangerous for pedestrians.

Multiple issues: Critical traffic areas including near tunnels - which were historically industrial with few people on the street - are now full of people due to overdevelopment. More hotels and tourists everywhere. The tsunami of Ubers. More trucks due to construction and ecommerce. Bike lanes and street re-design that confuse and hinder flow. More cyclists who purposefully disregard red lights, disregard pedestrians and disregard vehicles. More pedestrians who purposefully walk into traffic/disregard red lights.

I blame the wandering downward-looking zombies. You can see one quite clearly in the photo accompanying the story.