Opinion: Universal daylighting saves lives

“Universal daylighting” refers to a law in New York State that prohibits parking within 20 feet of an intersection, protecting sightlines so drivers can see pedestrians waiting at the curb. New York City has long been exempted from the state law, allowing motorists to continue to store their vehicles on every corner at the expense of visibility. A City Council bill, Intro 1138, would reverse the exemption. The bill recently garnered bipartisan majority support, thanks in part to co-sponsorship from Sunset Park’s own Councilmember Alexa Aviles. I am calling on City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to bring the bill to a vote so that this vital upgrade to our streetscape can be codified into city law.

To understand how this bill impacts Sunset Park, compare Fourth Avenue, where brown-painted daylighting zones shorten pedestrian crossing distances, with Third Avenue, where two of our neighbors, Kex Un Chen and Faqui Lin, were tragically recently killed by a hit-and-run driver.

For proof that daylighting works, look across the Hudson River to Hoboken, NJ, which has seen zero pedestrian fatalities in the eight years since implementing universal daylighting.

While fewer than half of NYC households own cars and less than one third of New Yorkers use cars to commute, Sunset Park streets are nevertheless used to store more than 6,000 cars per square mile. The space that lines our roads could be used for greenery, flood control, gathering places, or bus infrastructure, yet we allot it to the free storage of private vehicles that obstruct our views and put our neighbors’ lives at risk.

Sunset Park Community Board 7 understood the urgency of the issue when it voted near-unanimously to approve a resolution supporting universal daylighting city-wide, with broad support from drivers seeking better visibility and cyclists seeking safety. The board’s resolution went even further, suggesting that “the daylight spot should be ‘hardened’ with something to prevent illegal parking, such as a bike rack, containerized trash, planters, or boulders,” to physically prevent illegal parking. A stroll down Fourth Avenue highlights the limitations of using paint alone.

Daylighting is a rare example of policy that has community support from both drivers and cyclists, as well as bipartisan support from elected officials. At the city’s current rate of implementing daylighting at 100 intersections per year, it would take roughly 500 years to upgrade NYC’s 50,000 intersections. Kex Un Chen and Faqui Lin didn’t have the luxury of time. Adrienne Adams, please act now, and call Intro 1138 to a vote to make our city safer for all road users.