There are 118 intersections in the five boroughs where at least five people have been killed or seriously injured in the past three years, according to a report released Tuesday — but there may be a fix that could save lives.
Transportation Alternatives for Safe Streets released a map using Department of Transportation that shows the Big Apple’s deadliest street crossings, as the activist group pushed local politicians to pass a new law that would ban vehicles from parking or standing within 20 feet of crosswalks across the city.
“The data shows what we’ve known for years and been calling for, that intersections are where we need to focus our attention, that intersections are where we need to prioritize safe street improvements,” said Elizabeth Adams, senior director of advocacy & organizing for the group.
Adams told reporters at a press conference outside City Hall offices in Manhattan that the city should require “daylighting” at all intersections — which would give drivers and pedestrians better views of potential hazardous situations.
Daylighting is the practice of banning cars from parking too close to an intersection’s crosswalks, which can block visibility for pedestrians and drivers, leading to serious and sometimes deadly accidents.
“[With daylighting] whether you are a driver, a pedestrian or a cyclist, you have the sight lines you need to see everyone who’s turning the corner, who’s coming around the bend,” Adams said.
The group’s map showed that the most dangerous intersections in each borough were:
- West 120th Street & Lenox Avenue in Manhattan
- Northern Boulevard & 48th Street in Queens
- Flatbush Avenue & Avenue H in Brooklyn
- Bruckner Boulevard & St. Ann’s Avenue in the Bronx
- Hunton Street & Richmond Road in Staten Island
Each intersection has been the site of recent tragedies and carnage.
At Manhattan’s deadliest intersection, a 3-year-old girl was struck and killed by an car as she crossed the street with an adult and two other children in July 2024.
And a 32-year-old woman was killed by a hit-and-run driver when crossing the Bronx’s deadliest intersection on Aug. 26.
Dilmania Lopez de Rodriguez was struck just after midnight as she tried to cross Bruckner Boulevard at the Leggett Avenue intersection in Mott Haven, within the crosswalk, police said.
The driver fled leaving a witness to call the cops after finding Rodriguez unresponsive.
The NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad is still investigating, according to an NYPD spokesperson Tuesday.
At Queens’ worst intersection, a driver exiting a parking lot plowed into a 89-year-old woman and critically injured her back in 2022.
A spokesperson for the DOT said Tuesday that all of those intersections already have daylighting.
But Adams said it was bad policy to only decide on daylighting on a case-by-case basis, often after someone has already died or been seriously injured.
“It is irresponsible for DOT to wait until another New Yorker has lost their loved one, another New Yorker has had a devastating injury to say, ‘now we will look at this intersection,’” Adams said.
Transit safety advocates are instead calling for the City Council to pass a new law, Intro 1138, that would bar standing or parking a vehicle within 20 feet of any crosswalk citywide, with limited exceptions for briefly picking up or dropping off passengers.
The legislation also orders DOT to install physical daylighting barriers, like planters or bike racks, at a minimum of 1,000 intersections a year through 2030 and to conduct citywide outreach about the new rules.
A spokesperson for Speaker Adrienne Adams — who is not related to the safety advocate — said negotiations over the legislation are still happening. There is only one meeting left before the current council session expires, on Dec. 18, where the bill could be heard with the process still requiring input from the public.
“The safety of pedestrians and all street users remains a top priority for Speaker Adams and the Council,” the spokesperson said Tuesday. “Introduction 1138 continues to be actively worked on and negotiated as part of the Council’s legislative process, which includes consideration of public input, ahead of the Council’s final Stated Meeting.”
A DOT spokesperson said the agency supports a “targeted” daylighting approach.
“There isn’t a one-size-fits-all quick fix, but we will continue to use every tool available – including targeted daylighting – to make our streets safer,” the spokesperson said.
A study released by DOT in January said daylighting with no physical barrier did not show a clear safety benefit in the crash data DOT analyzed.
In some cases, the study showed, removing parked cars without adding other physical barriers created a more “open” feeling space that encouraged faster, wider turns by drivers. DOT recommended in the study to pair daylighting with other designs, such as curb extensions, turn calming, protected bike lanes and pedestrian islands.
Meanwhile the council bill, sponsored by Queens Council member Julie Won, could still be heard next year if likely new speaker, Council member Julie Menin, opts to take it up. Menin is one of the bill’s 26 co-sponsors.
Transit advocates, desperate to prevent more traffic deaths, said Tuesday they won’t accept any changes to the bill that don’t lead to “real change” for the city’s vulnerable pedestrians.
“I think we won’t accept anything that does not have real safety improvements and real changes on our streets for New Yorkers,” Adams said.
