Dear Editor:
As Provisional Director of Transportation and Parking for just four weeks, it is my responsibility to correct some continuing misinformation I have encountered regarding our new Pedestrian Safety Program and bicycle lanes.
After many conversations with residents on these topics – and at their urging – I am hoping this letter can help get the message out and clear things up a little.
We can all agree that parking is a precious thing in Hoboken, but who can argue that people’s lives are not much more so? In Hoboken, an amazing 95 percent of trips we take are on foot. That leaves just 5 percent of trips by car, bus, taxi, bicycle, etc. Basically, this means we are all walking somewhere at some time.
The newly implemented Pedestrian Safety program, coordinated by the Hoboken Parking Utility with cooperation from the Director of Public Safety, the Hoboken Police Department, and the Hoboken Fire Department, is a city-wide, targeted campaign to enforce laws that specifically deal with protecting pedestrians; namely, parking in crosswalks, in front of fire hydrants, in bus stops, and too close to intersections.
The program is in direct response to the public’s clear concern for safety on our streets. Parking in crosswalks forces us into intersections and exposes us to moving traffic; parking in front of fire hydrants blocks critical safety access; parking in bus stops prevents buses from dropping off passengers curbside; parking too close to intersections blocks critical line-of-sight between drivers and pedestrians.
I am urging all drivers to consider everyone’s safety, including your own, when debating whether to park in these locations.
Another misunderstanding is about the purpose and placement of our bicycle lanes. These bike lanes, and their placement, were unanimously voted on by City Council last year in an effort to make our streets safer by slowing down traffic. You can witness for yourself on Madison and Grand Streets the effect of narrowing the travel lane for drivers on their speeds simply by adding a bicycle lane. The psychological effect of narrower travel lanes on drivers is described as increasing their “perceived risk”, which make drivers naturally slow down. Moreover, the lanes were placed on the left side of the street in consultation with planners, engineers, and attorneys, because safety statistics in other cities have shown that bicycle lanes on one-way streets located adjacent to the passenger door (rather than the driver door) are 66 percent less likely to result in a bicyclist unexpectedly having a car door opened on them while they are riding by. So-called “dooring” is one of the most dangerous hazards for urban bicyclists. When the bike lane is positioned next to the passenger door, dooring happens a whole lot less.
As you can see above, the purpose of both the Pedestrian Safety program and the bike lanes is primarily for the improved safety and comfort of the overwhelming majority of Hoboken residents like you and me. If you hear otherwise, it is not only incorrect, it is an unfortunate mischaracterization of wholly good efforts to make Hoboken a safer place. Hopefully, we will all make an effort to “spread the word” about the facts regarding the above topics, and overcome the mistruths out there. If you want to contact me with any further questions, please send an email to parking@hobokennj.org. Thank you for your time and consideration!
Respectfully,
Ian Sacs, P.E. City of Hoboken
Provisional Director, Department of Transportation and Parking