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.

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today announced the launch of the “Don’t Be A Jerk” bike safety ad campaign, featuring celebrities Mario Batali, John Leguizamo and Paulina Porizkova on bikes humorously highlighting essential do’s and don’ts of safe, responsible riding that are crucial to keeping New York City’s streets as safe as they can be for everyone using them, including cyclists. The new ads combine satire and humor to convey the need for bicyclists to follow the rules of the road, including always yielding to pedestrians; riding with traffic, not against it; and riding on the street, not on the sidewalks (unless the rider is age 12 or younger).

The three spots, each starring a different celebrity, tackle serious, correctable bicycling behaviors, and ask all New Yorkers to ride responsibly. Over the past four years DOT has made a commitment to cyclists, adding over 250 new miles of bike lanes, better bike lane designs and thousands of new bike racks. The new campaign amplifies the agency’s ongoing efforts to educate and engage cyclists and encourage respectful riding.

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and Transportation Alternatives (T.A.) today announced that Bike Month NYC 2011 is in full swing and encouraged New Yorkers to take the Bike Smart Pledge to ride safely during the annual, month-long celebration of bicycling in New York City-and every day of the year.

Bike Month is also a great time for the city’s growing number of cyclists to commit to following top five, simple bicycling rules:

Yield to pedestrians
Stop at red lights and stop signs
Ride in the direction of traffic
Stay off the sidewalk unless you’re 12 or younger
Use bike lights at night.

The online pledge at nyc.gov/bikesmartpledge also links to the “5 to Ride” campaign at www.5toride.org, supporting the Stuart C. Gruskin Family Foundation founded by Nancy Gruskin in honor of her husband, who died in a 2009 Midtown collision with a wrong-way delivery cyclist.

See Transportation Alternatives’ Biking Rules Campaign

Learn about Bike Smart and take the Bike Smart Pledge

Learn more about Bike Month NYC

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today accepted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) public service award, recognizing the agency’s efforts to make New York City’s streets safer for everyone, and especially for pedestrians. Each year, NHTSA recognizes key players in the transportation industry for exemplary achievement in promoting highway safety across America.

NHTSA Deputy Administrator Ronald Medford presented the award, which is one of 17 nationwide, to Commissioner Sadik-Khan at the World Traffic Safety Symposium at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, held in conjunction with the New York International Auto Show.

Read the press release for more information

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and City Council Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca today unveiled a new speed board along Bruckner Boulevard/Kearney Avenue between Waterbury and Hollywood avenues in the Bronx to alert motorists of their driving speeds in an effort to reduce speeding along this heavily used corridor. A DOT survey last month revealed 96% of vehicles exceeding the speed limit at this location, with an average speed of 37 m.p.h. despite a posted speed limit of 25 m.p.h. The temporary speed board will remain at this location for several weeks, and can be relocated to another location in the Bronx or another borough to spread its safety message. Read the press release for more information

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro and Councilmember James S. Oddo today tracked vehicle speeds on Targee Street near Naples Avenue in Concord, Staten Island, joining fourth graders from P.S. 48 who are completing speed-observation exercises as part of a hands-on traffic-safety workshop led by DOT’s Office of Education and Outreach.

Using a speed detector, students recorded an average speed of 39 m.p.h. on Targee Street, with some vehicles moving as fast as 50 m.p.h., despite the posted 30 m.p.h. speed-limit and school-crossing signs in the area. In addition to documenting speeds, students learned the science of safety by calculating the stopping distances for vehicles traveling 20, 30 and 40 m.p.h. and conducting other activities that illustrate that the faster the speed of a vehicle, the longer the stopping distance, up to as much as 160 feet-nearly the length of an entire city block.

The program is part of a push by DOT to illustrate one key statistic: If a pedestrian is hit by a car traveling 40 m.p.h. or faster, there’s a 70% chance that the pedestrian will be killed; at 30 m.p.h., there’s an 80% chance that the pedestrian will live.

Read the press release for more information

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Pedestrian countdown signals are being installed at key locations across New York City to help pedestrians safely cross intersections with a history of pedestrian crashes. Plans have been made to install countdown signals at 43 high pedestrian crash locations, based on a pilot study that showed 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. Based on those findings, the agency announced plans to install countdown signals at 1,500 intersections along major corridors in all five boroughs as part of the Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan, as well as at individual high-pedestrian crash locations. Implementation of all 1,500 intersections will accelerate this summer and continue into next year.

See the press release for more information

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National Work Zone Awareness Week is being observed from April 4-8, to remind motorists to drive with care around work zones to keep roadway crews safe. Each year approximately 700 people die in work zone crashes across the country. In New York City, 40 City DOT workers have been injured in work zone incidents since 1995, and six employees died from crashes in work zones since 1990. DOT has made work zone safety a priority on its legislative agenda, especially after the death of Highway Repairer Nicholas (“Nicky”) Antico, who was fatally struck by a drunken motorist speeding through a closed work zone in Staten Island in 2005.

This year, DOT’s Work Zone Awareness campaign features a black-and-white image of Antico’s widow, Anna, who shares her heartfelt testimonial of losing a loved one in a work zone crash.

While National Work Zone Awareness Week is timed for one week at the start of the construction season in April, its message resonates year round. To draw attention to this timeless message, DOT installed one bright blue sign along a key highway in each borough that says, “Give Workers a Break. Drive Safely Around Work Zones.” New signs are located at Harlem River Drive and the High Bridge Overpass; the Cross Bronx Expressway near Exit 4; the West Shore Expressway at Bloomingdale Road; and the Belt Parkway near the 65th/66th Street exit ramp and at the 134th Street Conduit exit.

Read more about work zone safety at nyc.gov/workzonesafety

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today announced that preliminary 2010 safety statistics show sustained historic lows in citywide traffic fatalities, with the last four years recording the lowest number of traffic fatalities in city history. Last year, 269 people were killed in traffic crashes in the five boroughs, the second-lowest number since records started being kept in 1910, and second only to 2009′s record-low of 258 fatalities. The findings reinforce New York City’s position as the safest big city, with fatality rates a quarter of the nationwide rate and half that of other big cities.

“This historic era shows how far we’ve come on safety, but the statistics also bear a warning that we can’t let up in our work to build safer streets,” said DOT Commissioner Sadik-Khan. “Too many crashes that take lives on our streets are still all-too avoidable and we need to do even more to prevent speeding, drunken driving and simple failure to pay attention.”

Read the press release for more details on 2010′s numbers