Covered Vision Long Island’s Smart Growth Summit last week and penned this #LIHerald editorial from it:
It is a frightening statistic: Pedestrian deaths shot up by nearly 56 percent nationally between 2009 and 2018, from roughly 4,000 lives lost to cars and trucks to 6,227. That followed a long period of steady decline, from a high of 6,500 in 1990.
Long Island has its share of pedestrian deaths, averaging about 60 per year.
Frank Wefering, director of sustainability for the Babylon-based Greenman-Pedersen Inc., an engineering and construction firm, presented the statistics during an hour-long panel discussion, “Walking, Biking and Complete Streets,” that was part of the three-day Long Island Smart Growth Summit hosted last week by the nonprofit Vision Long Island.
If you think about it, every sixth day on the Island, a pedestrian or cyclist is killed on the roads. Does it have to be this way? “No” was the resounding answer during the talk, given by four panelists, including officials from both the Nassau and Suffolk County governments.
The thing is, reducing pedestrian deaths requires planning and a sustained financial commitment, as well as greater vigilance by motorists, the panelists said. We agree.
For more, click here.
