Mayor Mamdani, NYC officials unveil "Vision Zero Reimagined" plan for street safety
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled Tuesday his 10-year street safety plan called Vision Zero Reimagined.
The mayor's office says the plan involves 19 agencies and partners and 100 policies to limit traffic deaths and injuries, including the creation of pedestrian-only and pedestrian-priority districts, expanding Sammy's Law, improving 1,000 intersections, and expanding street safety projects.
"We should not have to wait for another family to lose a loved one before we make a street safer," Mamdani said. "With 19 agencies and partners working together, we are doubling down on what works and paving the way for ambitious new models of street safety."
What's in the plan
The mayor's office say the plan involves eight goals, the first of which is removing dangerous drivers from city streets. The mayor's office says "a small number of drivers with documented histories of reckless behavior account for 37% of all traffic deaths. The city will also seek to strengthen "legal accountability" and use "data-driven automated enforcement to identify people who routinely violate laws." That includes cracking down on ghost plates and creating a super speeder program.
"I want to be very clear. If you are breaking the law repeatedly on our roads, you will not be allowed to drive in New York City," Mamdani said.
The mayor's office say crashes involving cars account for 90% of traffic fatalities.
The plan also includes reducing the speed limit to 15 near hundreds more schools, and the addition of barriers at 1,000 intersection over 10 years.
What about e-bikes, scooters, and cyclists?
Other goals include creating "a clear and enforceable safety framework" for micromobility devices and delivery platforms as well as promoting mass transit and car shares over private automobile use.
Stiffer penalties for e-bikes and scooters may be a long time coming, however. It's still unclear actions the mayor is willing to take against the e-bikes, scooters and cyclists who clog the streets and sidewalks. Last march, the mayor stopped cops from issuing them criminal summonses for low-level traffic offenses.
CBS News New York asked the mayor what he's going to do about e-bikes, scooters and cyclists who don't obey the rules of the road, run red lights, and go the wrong way down one-way streets.
"What our goal is is behavioral change. And so I don't look as much as a goal to the number of violations that are issued, the number of tickets that are issued. What I want to see is a change in behavior," Mamdani said.
And what about his decision to ask cops to ask cops not to issues criminal summonses since e-bike collisions are up 25% so far this year?
"When it comes to what we have seen with e-bikes across the city, one of the key things that we found in terms of some of the highest profile incidents and crashes have been e-bikes that are going far beyond what is legal on our streets," Mamdani said.
The speed limit for e-bikes in New York City is 15 mph. The mayor said he and his corporation counsel are hitting retailers with cease and desist letter to get them to stop selling e-bikes that can go faster. Many have a top speed of 25-30 mph.
The mayor also said there have been conversations with certain online retailers to restrict the sales of faster e-bikes.
"Vision Zero has been a game changer for street safety in New York City, with traffic deaths down 30% since its launch in 2014. Now, we will aim even higher, dramatically expanding the City's commitment to street safety for the first time since the program's launch," DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn said.
"Vision Zero is an essential component of public safety," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. "There are far too many needless injuries and deaths resulting from reckless and illegal behavior our roads."
"We're heartened to see an all-of-government approach to street safety, and we know upgrades like 20 mph Sammy's Law zones, a high-quality bike network, accountability for dangerous driving, accelerated redesigns on the most dangerous streets and intersections, and the safest fleet in the country will save lives today, tomorrow and for generations to come," Ben Furnas of Transportation Alternatives said.
