Support Safer Streets at the Community Board 8 Meeting 5/20
Recent hit-and-runs that killed pedestrians and cyclists have raised major street safety concerns. If this matters to you, please attend Community Board 8’s Full Board meeting TOMORROS (Wednesday 5/20) at 6:30P. The board will be voting on 2 resolutions related to Sammy's Law:
1- Reducing the speed limit to 15mph immediately in front of three Upper East Side Schools
2- Reducing the speed limit to 20mph (down from 25mph) throughout CB8.
These are two important street safety measures. Reducing speeds increases the survival rate for pedestrians involved in a car crash. If a car strikes a pedestrian going 25mph (the current speed limit), there is a 12% fatality risk and a 30% serious injury risk. If the car is going 20mph (the proposed limit), there is a 3% fatality risk, and an 18% serious injury risk. And if the car is going 15mph (the proposed limit at noted schools), the fatality risk drops to 1%, and serious injury drops to 10%. (Source)
This vote could have real impacts on lives and has already been requested in at least 9 other community board districts. There will likely be public pushback against these resolutions. If you support these, I highly encourage you to speak.
How to speak: You can attend the meeting in-person or via zoom.
Zoom Attendance:
Sign up here to speak: https://cb8m.fillout.com/attend?Meeting=recSK4FGF3kCp99bb
After signing up you will be sent a zoom link.
In-Person Attendance:
Marymount Manhattan College - Regina Peruggi Room
221 East 71st Street (Between Third and Second Avenues)
To speak, you will need to fill out a form when you walk in.
You will be limited to 1-2mins of speaking time (based on how many people sign up). But everyone loves something short & sweet 🙂
Full Board meetings begin with public comment. The board will not announce in advance what they are voting on, so if you speak specify if you support implementing Sammy's Law district wide. The board will not vote on the resolutions until the subcommittees present them, which will happen after board & elected updates. Meeting agenda is here - https://www.cb8m.com/event/41004/
If you have any questions about speaking or the community board process or how to speak, leave them in the comments. I'm happy to answer them the best I can. I am not a board member, just someone who frequently attends meetings.
If you want more background, I encourage you to watch the transportation subcommittee meeting where this was initially discussed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xgg9unrnEU
Committee Co-Chair Craig Lader gave a great presentation about crash data on the Upper East Side using Crash Mapper (https://crashmapper.org/#/). Some key findings from that presentation:
- Crashes declined 76% from 2016-2025, but persons injured fell by only 20%
- Injury rate per crash tripled, each crash is now 3x more likely to injure someone.
- 2P-5P sees the most crashes and highest injury rates; 1A-4A show elevated injury rate per crash
- Driver inattention/distraction is the #1 cited contributing factor (5x more than the next factor)
- Cyclist injuries have not declined despite falling crash counts