With Universal Daylighting, a Future with Safer Streets Is Possible

Antonio Reynoso

With Universal Daylighting, a Future with Safer Streets Is Possible
Judith Byron, 75, was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and 41st Street in early October, highlighting the need for legislation to make our streets safer.

This summer, our entire borough mourned the loss of two Sunset Park residents who were killed while crossing Third Avenue and 52nd street by a hit-and-run driver. According to Transportation Alternatives, 80 people have been seriously injured or killed along this two-mile stretch since 2018. The City has known about the dangerous conditions along this stretch of Third Avenue for years, but they have failed to act and indefinitely postponed the Third Ave Safety Improvement Plan championed by Community Board 7.

And while this stretch of Third Avenue is particularly dangerous, crashes like these are too common across the borough: In 2023, 7-year-old Kamari Hughes was killed by an NYPD tow truck driver while walking to school with his mother in Fort Greene. In 2024, a 10-year-old girl was killed by a driver after leaving school in South Williamsburg. And in early October 75-year-old Judith Byron was killed by a hit-and-run driver at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and 41st Street on her way to take her dog to the park.

These incidents point to the devastating truth that our city has failed to build safe streets for New Yorkers, no matter how you get around.

Thankfully, there’s reason for hope, because right now, New York City Council Speaker Adams has the opportunity to bring a life-saving street safety intervention to every street in our city by advancing Intro 1138 to make universal daylighting the law in New York City.

Daylighting – reclaiming one parking spot adjacent to crosswalks to improve visibility for drivers and pedestrians – is a simple and effective treatment that makes streets safer. Whether you’re walking your kids to school, biking to work, or driving to the store, daylighting makes navigating city streets easier.

With universal daylighting, drivers can see pedestrians better, speeding will be reduced, and crashes would be more easily avoided. This intervention is already a street safety convention across the United States. Forty-four states have universal daylighting laws, and it’s even the law here in New York State. Unfortunately, New York City has simply been allowed to opt out of the law.

The best thing about universal daylighting is that it is a systemic solution to a systemic problem. Instead of merely imposing changes at intersections where fatalities have occurred, universal daylighting would help make every street in our city safer. We can't wait to act when fatal crashes occur; we must work to prevent them before they happen. Intro 1138 would mandate that all intersections in New York City be daylighted and require physical infrastructure like bike parking and concrete blocks to be added to 1,000 intersections a year. The bill has broad bipartisan support from a majority of council members, including members from all five boroughs.

The bill also aligns with my 2025 Comprehensive Plan for Brooklyn, which calls for the implementation of universal daylighting and the use of physical barriers to daylight all intersections in Brooklyn. Communities like Sunset Park, whose demands for action have been ignored by the City, would benefit the most from a systemic approach like this one. Daylighting should be considered a basic design standard for every intersection in the city; every time a work crew touches a street corner is an opportunity to rebuild it with daylighting. There is no reason to delay implementing this life-saving policy or for any parent to grieve another preventable death. No parking space is more important than a life. Speaker Adrienne Adams must act now to bring Intro 1138 to a vote and ensure it passes.