The campaign to get CPC vehicles to stop for the entire duration of the stop light is making good progress. When they stop, other vehicles and bicycles stop. Often the CPC vehicles block other vehicles like horse-drawn carriages and pedicabs from continuing thru the crosswalk after the pedestrians have cleared and the light is still red.

This is very important because, with so much traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, as soon as vehicles resume moving thru the crosswalk after the pedestrians are clear but the stop light is still on, no more pedestrians can enter the crosswalk until vehicles are no longer moving thru the crosswalk. This often results in pedestrians entering the crosswalk at the last moment so they end up in the middle of the crosswalk when the stop light turns green again.

This was on Friday and the overall traffic was up significantly from earlier in the week. I was stunned by the number of kids from ECFS and YMCA that used this crosswalk in just the two one-hour periods I shot video clips there. Yesterday I counted over 160 kids in the clips I shot. Today the number was well over 200. 

After school, more kids with their parents crossed into the park from the school to play softball or have picnics and parties in the park. A big difference in these crossings is that parents very often don't press the button to call the safe-to-cross light. When classes with teachers use our crosswalk, they ALWAYS press the call button and wait for the white safe-to-cross light to come on.

I recorded another near-miss involving a large group of ECFS kids and three teachers at 12:18 pm. Two teachers are trying to block vehicles from entering the crosswalk while the kids are crossing. The third teacher is leading the kids thru the crosswalk, screaming "Stop, Red Light, Stop, Red Light", as he cautiously advances the class forward. Two bicycles and two pedicabs fly right by within a few inches of him. He takes a few more steps before a racing cycle comes flying by. That is the third such incident I filmed in three weeks and I am only there filming a few hours a day.

Today's illustration shows the Central Park Loop that is used by several organized bicycle races in Central Park every year. It also shows how easy and effective West Drive is for commuters and e-vehicle delivery drivers to avoid speed limits, stop lights, and congestion on Central Park West.