A new study by Transportation Alternatives, New York City’s advocates for walking and street safety, shows that NYC’s senior citizens are being killed and injured in disproportionate numbers because they don’t have enough time to cross the street.

Says Amy Pfeiffer, Director of Transportation Alternatives’ Safe Routes for Seniors program:

“The City Department of Transportation assumes that all pedestrians walk at 4 feet per second. For New York’s growing population of senior citizens, this is simply not true. The city must give seniors more time to cross the street by extending the WALK phase of traffic lights at intersections in neighborhoods with high concentrations of senior citizens.”

Though senior citizens comprise only 13% of the city’s population, they represent 33% of the city’s pedestrian fatalities. In 2001 alone over 1,600 of city seniors were injured or killed in traffic crashes. The number one issue for seniors completing an American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) survey of pedestrian problems was “pedestrian crossing time too short.” Says Dr. Nelson Peralta, Project Administrator for the Columbia Center for the Active Life of Minority Elders:

“I have personally witnessed hundreds of examples of seniors having various degrees of difficulties navigating the streets of Washington Heights and Inwood. This is especially true and sad when you see this occur to those seniors who are fragile and the disabled. The crossing at 168th and Broadway to and from St. Nicholas Avenue is a nightmare I see every day!”

Transportation Alternatives studied six intersections in four neighborhoods to record how fast elderly pedestrians crossed these intersections. The study found average walking speeds of three feet per second, a full foot slower per second than the City DOT standard.

In order to encourage seniors to keep walking and make New York City streets safer for seniors, the NYC Department of Transportation should:

• Modify signal timing around senior centers to reflect slower walking speeds: Rather than 4 feet per second, lights should be timed for those walking at 3 feet per second or less.
• Give seniors protected WALK time: Descending and ascending the curb takes seniors more time than other pedestrians. Providing exclusive WALK phases free from turning traffic is the best way to protect seniors from turning drivers, who often do not yield.
• Give seniors a safe refuge on big streets: The city should install pedestrian refuges or medians at any street greater than 70 feet in width, and place bollards at the median tips and benches at the medians so seniors can sit and wait for the next signal.