'A no-brainer': State Police call for citywide parking ban near intersections

The city is expected to ban parking near all intersections under a bill in the state Legislature inspired by a yearlong campaign by civic groups and politicians for a treatment of street safety also known as daylighting.

Daylight eliminates the line of cars on bends, clearing sight lines for drivers and pedestrians. Supporters say it's one of the simplest and least expensive ways to reduce crashes at intersections, where 55 percent of pedestrian deaths and 79 percent of injuries occur, according to city data.

The state already prohibits parking within 20 feet of intersections, but the city has long been allowed to exempt itself from that provision, opting instead for more car storage. But a growing number of community boards and lawmakers have pushed to end this exclusion.

“People want it, and it seems obvious,” said Brooklyn Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, who recently introduced the proposal. “The changes are very evident, people feel much safer crossing these intersections.”

The bill comes after 16 community boards and three dozen elected officials came out publicly in support of banning corner parking over the past year, including the state Senate's deputy leader, Mike Gianaris, whose voters in western Queens launched the grassroots effort after a series of horrific traffic deaths at local intersections.

Cities like Hoboken have deployed daylighting aggressively for years and successfully reduced traffic deaths, but Big Apple officials have been more hesitant to adopt the measure at the city's roughly 40,000 intersections. .

But Simon said officials on this side of the Hudson must follow Mile Square City's lead, noting that more cars are clogging the streets and vehicle sizes are swelling with trucks and SUVs, blocking even more visibility.

“How many SUVs – the bigger ones now – are there, they're bigger, you can't see around these SUVs,” Brooklyn police said.

Transportation Department Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said last year that daylighting “would not be the right solution everywhere,” citing concerns that drivers could take faster and more dangerous turns without the obstruction of a parked car.

Meanwhile, the DOT missed a May 1 deadline to release a legally required daylighting safety study, per a Council bill passed last year.

The bill also mandated daylighting at 100 intersections per year, a number the Adams administration has pledged to increase tenfold.

“DOT is adding daylighting to 1,000 intersections this year, 10 times more than required by this law, as we work to release this study this year,” the DOT spokesperson said , Vin Barone.

The agency previously conducted a study in 2015 of left-turn accidents at 3,000 intersections with “natural lighting” provided by a simple fire hydrant on a corner, which produced only minimal improvements. in terms of security.

Daylighting can range from a simple no parking sign or fire hydrant to paint or physical barriers on the street.

Advocates applauded the bill, saying it would light a fire under the city's feet to make intersections safer across the five boroughs.

“We don't need a report to know that daylighting is a major improvement. We are far more concerned that this administration is going after and fixing these illegal, dangerous and frustrating intersections,” said Sara Lind, co-executive director of Open Plans (which shares a parent company with Streetsblog). “Natural lighting is proven and very popular throughout the city; it's time to simply follow the law that requires it and light up every intersection in New York. »

The civic campaign for daylighting began in western Queens in June 2023, when Local Community Board 1 passed a symbolic resolution calling on the city to implement widespread daylighting after two children were fatally struck by motorists at an intersection, including 7-year-old Dolma Naadhun in Astoria. .

Over the next year, 15 additional councils in four of the five boroughs joined the chorus, sending their letters of support for universal daylighting.

Last fall, an NYPD tow truck driver fatally struck Kamari Hughes, also 7, at a Fort Greene intersection where cars were blocking visibility. The horrific accident prompted Mayor Adams to promise to light 1,000 intersections a year and add other safety improvements to 1,000 crossings.

At the corner where Kamari was killed, at N. Portland Avenue and Myrtle Avenue, the DOT installed bike racks and rocks to light the turn, as well as a raised crosswalk.

The DOT declined to say how many intersections were daylit this year, but Barone noted in an email to Streetsblog on June 24 that the agency's construction season was just beginning.