Council Transportation Chair Ydanis Rodriguez, Council Members Corey Johnson, Jumaane Williams, Margaret Chin, elected officials, and transportation advocates call on the City of New York to install pedestrian safety bollards along sidewalks in key areas of high pedestrian volume and other pedestrian safety measures to protect New Yorkers.
Elected officials and pedestrian safety advocates discussed various pedestrian safety measures, including Introduction 1658 whose primary sponsor is Chair Rodriguez. The bill would require the installation of bollards in front of schools, plazas and vision zero priority corridors, among other details. The bill was introduced and heard before the Transportation Committee in June and is awaiting a vote by the full Council body; however, the call will be to begin installation now before the legislation goes to a vote.
The heightened urgency of protecting pedestrians comes, in part, as vehicles have increasingly been used as weapons of mass destruction. The recent attack in New York City resulted in eight deaths and eleven injured.
"For the safety of New York City's pedestrians, we need the installation of more bollards in the city's most crowed areas," said Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Chair of the Council Committee on Transportation. "New York is one the biggest targets for these types of attacks and we will continue to work together to prevent these kinds of tragedies from happening. I thank the courageous men and women of the NYPD for avoiding a greater loss of life, in particular Officer Ryan Nash, and all law enforcement and investigation agencies working to bring clarity about this act of hate and terror."
