DOT Aims to Protect Pedestrians by Placing Turn-Calming Treatments at Intersections

By Yehudit Garmaise

The NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) is taking measures in Boro Park to better protect pedestrians and cyclists from reckless drivers by painting yellow lines that aim to slow the speeds at which drivers take turns.

“Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is committed to improving safety at intersections, where 55% of pedestrian fatalities occur,” Vincent Barone, the DOT’s first deputy press secretary told BoroPark24. “This turn-calming treatment will slow drivers making left turns to better protect pedestrians crossing the street.”

Boro Park’s new “turn-calming treatments,” which are painted, so far, at 12 neighborhood intersections, such as at 13th Avenue and 53rd Street, are part of NYC’s citywide effort to eliminate deaths and injuries that are caused by drivers who fail to yield.

“Turn-calming treatments are new ways to slow-down drivers down as they turn,” Barone said. “These treatments are about creating an infrastructure in which drivers naturally turn more carefully, and pedestrians are more visible.

After innumerable reports of NYC pedestrians who were killed or injured by drivers who failed to yield at intersections, the DOT studied histories of crashes, deaths, and injuries to determine which crosswalks most needed added signals for drivers to take turns more slowly.

The DOT also considered intersections’ lane configurations and the space that is provided for larger vehicles to turn, while the agency initiated its efforts to slow drivers’ turns at 589 intersections citywide, as of Dec. 2021, reports nyc.gov.