Traffic Policy Matters
Last night I was almost struck by a taxi turning left to go west on 14th Street from 8th Avenue in Greenwich Village.
Not long ago, a woman was killed three blocks away by a turning truck. She was walking with the light, and the driver got off with a court summons. If I had been hurt, the city would probably have blamed it on my dark-colored clothing (which made me harder to see) and the music I was listening to. Because in New York, it’s every driver’s right to make turns at full speed and expect pedestrians to get out of the way, walk signal be damned.
The stuff they write about at StreetsBlog really, really matters.
UPDATE (Wednesday, 9 PM): And then this morning I watched a truck make a left from 8th onto 15th. A city garbage truck. Insert libertarian snark here.