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City rolls out street safety program

By Jeremy Walsh

The program's pilot areas include Murray Hill and Flushing. Areas marked for study in 2009 include Jackson Heights, Jamaica Hills, Rego Park and Sunnyside.In those neighborhoods, city engineers will evaluate the street conditions from a senior's standpoint and consider changes like extending pedestrian crossing times at crosswalks, shortening the distance of crosswalks, altering sidewalks, restricting vehicle turns and narrowing roadways.Mayor Michael Bloomberg made the announcement Jan. 29 in Brighton Beach, a community where the city has already retimed stoplights and pedestrian signals with seniors in mind.”We consider safer streets for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers a matter of public health, like smoking or obesity, that deserves our full attention,” he said.Last week the mayor's office released statistics showing there were 136 pedestrian fatalities in 2007, 13 percent fewer than in 2004 and 2005, the previous low points.But studies by the city Transportation Department have also found that while seniors make up 12 percent of the city's population, they account for nearly 39 percent of fatal pedestrian accidents.An elderly woman was involved in the most recent pedestrian fatality in the borough. A woman in her 60s was killed in December when she was run over by a cement mixer as she crossed Queens Boulevard near the Queens Center Mall. The Safe Streets for Seniors program does not plan on conducting any studies in Elmhurst, where that accident occurred.The mayor's announcement came a month after Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit advocacy group monitoring traffic issues in the city, released a report about how city streets fail senior citizens.The report, “Discriminatory by Design,” found that senior citizens walk more slowly than most pedestrians and are more likely to suffer death or serious injury from being struck by a car. The group recommended the city lengthen the time that traffic signals allow pedestrians to cross the street and program leading pedestrian intervals at all crossing signals.Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e-mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.