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From The New York Shitty Inbox: NAG Needs Your Help!
This item comes courtesy of the folks at NAG (Neighbors Allied For Good Growth):
Everyone in North Brooklyn knows that McGuinness Blvd. is dangerous, especially for the most vulnerable road users: pedestrians and cyclists.
NAG is currently continuing a traffic monitoring effort started last year by NAG volunteer Les Brown, at the intersection of McGuinness Blvd. and Nassau Street. (Check out this article for more). We’ll be using Transportation Alternatives’ Traffic Monitoring Kit to tally egregious traffic violations and will need two people/shift for the following shifts:
Tuesday 4/19 am (one hour of 7:30-8:30 or 8:30-9:30);
Wednesday 4/20 am (one hour of 7:30-8:30 and 8:30-9:30) and pm (one hour of 4:30-5:30 or 5:30-6:30) shifts;
Thursday 4/21 am and pm;
Friday 4/22 am.Below are some videos of pedestrians crossing, showing lack of pedestrian refuges and, in the second video, the heavy truck traffic volume. With long wait times between traffic signals, many pedestrians cross against the light and then are stuck in the middle of McGuinness without a proper refuge. According to crashstat.org and recent news, there have been at least 12 fatal crashes between 1995 and 2010 on McGuinness Blvd. and the street is part of the DOT’s “focus areas” under its Safe Streets for Seniors initiative. This data collection will help NAG in its continuing effort to advocate for traffic calming measures on this dangerous street.
To volunteer, please contact Summer Greenstein at summergreenstein (at) gmail (dot) com.
For more information about McGuinness and this project see:
and videos of pedestrians crossing McGuinness at Nassau:
Follows is my favorite bit of McGuinness Death Race 2010 goodness. It hails from the intersection of Green Street and was shot by yours truly. I call it “30 MPH?”. This was shot May 12th of last year.
And then of course you have this, which was shot by Kitchen Prof on 27th of January this year.
Here’s the deal: anyone who lives in Greenpoint knows this thoroughfare is very, VERY dangerous. Speeding along this stretch has gone virtually unchecked and some of our fellow Garden Spotters have been hurt— or have died— as a result. Those of you, dear readers, who have the ability to volunteer for this study please contact Summer at the above-listed email address. Thanks!
Photo Credits: The photo gracing the beginning of this post was taken by Jay Lombard.
Comments
4 Comments on From The New York Shitty Inbox: NAG Needs Your Help!
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mcgolrickheights on
Sun, 17th Apr 2011 3:55 pm
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missheather on
Sun, 17th Apr 2011 4:02 pm
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d on
Tue, 19th Apr 2011 1:12 pm
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Eric Brasure on
Fri, 22nd Apr 2011 12:45 pm
I walk this intersection every day. I’ve made it my own law to never cross it against the light. It’s stupid to see people of all kinds walk into such dangerous situations. McGuinness does need to be more safe, but I see people who wheel their babies into the middle of McGuinness with trucks going 40 in both directions all the time. It’s insane, right?
Speaking for myself, there are only a few places I will cross McGuinness. By far the safest is at Clay Street (think about it), although Calyer or Greenpoint will do in a pinch (the congestion at these intersections does preclude/mitigate speeding to some extent). I will not go anywhere near Nassau Avenue. What needs to happen (among other things) is tougher enforcement against speeding and longer crossing time for pedestrians. I mean if I, an able-bodied person, have hustle to get across in time imagine the challenges our senior citizens face? Or a man/woman with a cart of groceries and/or a few children in tow?
Agree with McGolrickHeights. I NEVER cross against the light on McGuinness. I understand that vehicles shouldn’t use it as a speedway but pedestrians also need to exercise appropriate caution & self responsibility if crossing against the light! However, I think longer crossing lights are a good idea.
McGuinness is is desperate need of a complete streets makeover.
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