Today was the last day of the Memorial Day weekend and the park was bristling with people and vehicles again. A NY Parks garbage truck and a huge NY Parks tree-trimming truck came plowing thru the crosswalk early in the day as did a couple of commercial trucks servicing the concessions. The CPC vehicles seem to have gotten the message from yesterday, as almost all of them stopped and waited for the light to turn green before proceeding.

Progress. The rumor mill is working.

The same could be said for the horse-drawn carriages and the pedicabs. Some of the drivers now know me and stop at the light and dutifully wait for it to turn green. When they do, many of them engage me in conversation. One of them yelled at me that videotaping him was illegal. Probably he is wanted in another country. It's New York, after all.

I also had a nice conversation with a couple of the NYPD's finest to clarify the driving rules in the park at crosswalks. As I thought, it turns out that vehicles are required to stop the entire time the red light is on. They are not allowed to proceed after the pedestrians clear the intersection but must wait for the green. 

There is a reason for this, as the horse carriages amply demonstrated today again by continuing thru the crosswalk when the red light was on, nose-to-tail so that no pedestrians were able to even attempt a crossing while the traffic light was red. Pedestrians were completely shut out of the crosswalk the entire time they had the right-of-way.

Also, the NYPD officers I pulled over (they know me now after yesterday's stunt) were unable to correctly state the speed limit in this crosswalk. They thought it was 20 or 25 mph when it is actually posted at 10.

I continued engaging people crossing the crosswalk, asking them if they thought this crosswalk was safe. If they responded that it was not, then I would ask if a speed bump would help, and if they would sign the petition. I was surprised to hear from some that a speed bump might actually add problems, so I started researching traffic diverters. I learned that NY DOT includes raised crosswalks in its list of "traffic calming devices" and then came across a Mar 2, 2022 article in the NYT about raised crosswalks. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/nyregion/nyc-raised-crosswalks-traffic-deaths.html.

As it turns out, Mayor Adams is a fan of raised crosswalks and wants to install 100 of them in NYC in the next year. This is a very good solution for the speed problem in our crosswalk and combined with the school speed zone makes a compelling case that our crosswalk at 63rd and West Drive should have a raised crosswalk before Labor Day.

Today's screengrab is an NYPD undercover car, continuing thru the crosswalk against the red light with no indication that it is on its way to any kind of emergency.

That's all for today. Will update you again tomorrow.