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New Yorkers are pros at crossing the street with purpose. But a new map shows just how risky some of those daily sprints really are.
Transportation Alternatives has released fresh data pinpointing 118 intersections across the five boroughs where five or more people have been killed or seriously injured in the last three years, a cluster of danger zones spread from Harlem to Staten Island.
The group’s analysis, drawn from Department of Transportation (DOT) open data, paints a stark picture: nearly three million residents live within walking distance of one of these high-risk corners.
The deadliest by borough won’t surprise anyone who’s ever tried to edge around an illegally parked SUV in low visibility. In Manhattan, the map highlights West 120th Street and Lenox Avenue; in Queens, Northern Boulevard and 48th Street; in Brooklyn, Flatbush Avenue and Avenue H; in the Bronx, Bruckner Boulevard and St. Ann’s Avenue; and, on Staten Island, Hunton Street and Richmond Road.
Transit advocates say the fix is surprisingly simple: daylighting, a policy that bans cars from parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk.
“The data shows what we’ve known for years and been calling for, that intersections are where we need to focus our attention, that intersections are where we need to prioritize safe street improvements,” said Elizabeth Adams, senior director of advocacy and organizing at Transportation Alternatives, at a press conference.
The idea is that removing those curbside blind spots gives drivers and pedestrians a fighting chance to see each other before it’s too late. While the DOT says many of these intersections already use some form of daylighting, advocates argue the current approach is too piecemeal and often reactive, established only after someone is hurt.
That’s where Intro 1138 enters the picture. The proposed City Council bill would require universal daylighting citywide and would install physical barriers, such as planters or bike racks, at 1,000 intersections each year through 2030. But with time running out in the current Council session, the bill’s future is uncertain. Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets say they won’t accept a watered-down version, noting that more than 1,800 people have been killed or seriously injured at intersections since the bill was introduced.
New Yorkers will keep navigating these corners every day—the question now is whether the city will make them safer to cross.
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