This holiday season, DOT gave away 5,500 free rides – 1,500 $15 debit cards for use in NYC Taxi Cabs, participating livery car services, at MetroCard vending machines and select other ticket vending machines, as well as 4,000 single-ride MetroCards – as part of its You the Man campaign, which is designed to curb drinking and driving, reduce traffic crashes and make New York City’s streets even safer.

Safe Rides Home reminded revelers that New Yorkers can count on friends and family members as designated drivers, as well as the city’s transportation professionals: cab, livery and bus drivers and subway operators.

DOT’s You the Man campaign is designed to reach all New Yorkers and encourage smart behavior that makes the city’s streets safer by keeping drunk drivers off the roads. The slogan, creative designs and humorous approach are especially designed to resonate with men ages 21-39, who statistics show are most likely to get into a DWI-related crash or accept a ride from an intoxicated driver.

New ads, using humorous winter holiday scenarios, ran through the New Year online as well as outdoors. The campaign features a website, Facebook and Twitter social media channels, and a free iPhone app that uses GPS to help users find the closest subway stops and livery car services.

Mayor Bloomberg, DOT Commissioner Sadik-Khan and Police Commissioner Kelly released preliminary statistics showing that New York City will record the fewest annual traffic fatalities since records were first kept in 1910. There were 40 percent fewer traffic fatalities in 2011 than in 2001 – a record low.

The new record lows come as the DOT has undertaken unprecedented safety engineering initiatives and public education efforts. Recent examples include safety upgrades to 60 miles of streets in 2011, including more than 20 miles of street redesigns, and the city’s first Neighborhood Slow Zone in the Bronx. Pedestrian countdown signals were installed at 1,100 intersections citywide in 2011. Safety campaigns have continued to pair engineering with education and outreach.

“This will be the city’s safest traffic year in the more than 100 years since records were kept,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “We’ve made progress in every area of traffic safety due to our willingness to take new, creative approaches to longstanding challenges with safety redesigns and through aggressive traffic enforcement. We’ve focused on making our streets safer for all who use them – no matter how they decide to travel – and it’s another reason New Yorkers are living longer and another reason our city is safer than ever before.”

Read the press release for more information and detailed statistics.

Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan celebrated DOT’s 50,00th free helmet fitting on August 6th, during the first week of Summer Streets. Since 2007, DOT’s Safety Education program has promoted bicycle safety through the free giveaway and fitting of stylish bicycle helmets at events in all five boroughs.

Helmets are crucial to keeping bicyclists safe, and are required by law for those age 13 and younger.

Bike Smart!

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and City Council Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca announced that pedestrian countdown signals are being installed at 49 intersections along the Bronx’s Grand Concourse to help pedestrians safely cross at intersections from East 140th Street to Mosholu Parkway. Commissioner Sadik-Khan also announced that work is under way to install countdown signals at 1,500 intersections citywide identified in last year’s landmark Pedestrian Safety Study & Action Plan. From 2005-2009, Grand Concourse had 411 pedestrian injuries and nine pedestrian fatalities, highlighting the need to enhance safety.

DOT pilot study completed last year found that countdown signals were effective at helping pedestrians avoid getting caught in the middle of a crosswalk when the signal changes, and particularly at wider streets. The analysis found that serious pedestrian crashes are about two-thirds deadlier on major street corridors than on smaller local streets or specific intersections. Other safety steps as part of the agency’s action plan include the upcoming pilot program in Claremont, the Bronx, to test the city’s first residential 20 mph speed zone.

See the map of planned locations for pedestrian countdown signals and further information on the Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan as well as the DOT’s anti-speeding campaign.

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, Council Member Debi Rose and Staten Island Yankees President Joseph M. Ricciutti launched the “You the Man Summer Shout-Out” contest, building on the agency’s ongoing efforts to curb drunken driving by encouraging New Yorkers to rely on a designated driver whenever plans include drinking. The contest, supported by the Staten Island Yankees, lets New Yorkers put their wit to work and submit their best shout-out for their favorite designated driver.

The winning entry will receive a VIP suite at the Staten Island Yankees’ August 25 game. As part of the prize, a You the Man bus will be provided for transportation to and from the game for up to 20 people, courtesy of the Staten Island Yankees.

Visit You the Man for more information

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, and Bike New York President and CEO Ken Podziba today joined Brooklyn students from P.S. 89 and I.S. 302 in Cypress Hills in a Bike to School Day ride to highlight bike riding as a safe, healthy and easy way to get around the city. DOT and Bike New York also announced that they are developing a new how-to manual to help any school citywide create and plan its own Bike to School Day to promote bicycling as a way to get to school any day of the year.

With the support of the City Department of Education, Bike New York led a “Bike Safe, Bike Smart” assembly to teach bike safety and the rules of road to students at I.S. 302 and grades 6-8 at P.S. 89. DOT also provided and fitted helmets to students signed up for Bike to School Day while the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) arranged for loaned bikes from nonprofit Recycle-a-Bicycle. The DOT-led ride included four routes, each covering nearly a mile. The Commissioner and Podziba greeted the students, teachers and other school officials as they arrived at I.S. 302.

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today joined with school officials and students to unveil “Young Artists for Safer Streets,” a colorful exhibition of traffic-safety signs and a mural designed by New York City public school students based on a unique curriculum developed by DOT’s Office of Education and Outreach and the nonprofit Groundswell Community Mural Project. The display features replicas of the dozen one-of-a kind traffic safety signs with messages such as “Be Aware/Cuidado” and “Stop, Look, Listen” and a 9′ X 12′ mural, which were created in 2009 and 2010 by fourth and fifth graders from 10 elementary and three middle schools citywide.

As part of this community-focused, school-safety education project, students took a close look at traffic conditions on streets adjacent to schools to create their designs. Students participated in up to 14 sessions of a traffic- and pedestrian-safety lesson plan taught by a DOT traffic safety instructor, followed by hands-on design workshops led by a Groundswell artist. Students who designed signs also visited the DOT’s Sign Shop in Maspeth, Queens.

To produce the signs, the students used standard traffic sign silhouettes in new scenarios and color combinations to convey their personalized safety messages for pedestrians and motorists in their respective areas. DOT installed each school’s two signs, all of which were manufactured at its sign shop, at locations where students identified the need for additional pedestrian safety signage in their school community.