The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will develop “a federal standard” to prevent health issues stemming from extreme heat on construction sites, according to a report by Construction Dive. In a press release, the agency announced it would initiate a rulemaking process that will include a comment period from various stakeholders as it works to establish new standards. […]
Wrongful Death
NYC Looks to Enforcing Bike Lane Parking Violations
The New York City Department of Transportation has released a “Request for Expressions of Interest” for vendors interested in developing an automated enforcement program for the city’s bike lanes, according to a report by StreetsBlog, whose report suggests the request shows the city’s interest in a “crack down on scofflaw drivers who illegally park and stop […]
NYC Issues Almost 1,500 Stop Work Orders in Construction Safety Sweep
A New York City Department of Buildings safety sweep this month resulted in 3,600 violations and 1,499 stop work orders issued to construction contractors. According to a report by Construction Dive, the sweeps were launched because of a spate of construction site fatalities in the city, with seven workers dying in the first five months of 2021—two […]
Why Hasn’t NYC Implemented Its New Reckless Driving Law?
The man suspected of killing a three-month-old baby in a reckless driving incident in Brooklyn earlier this month had a suspended licensed, 91 speeding tickets, and an arrest on his record for driving without a valid license, according to a report by StreetsBlog. The 28-year-old driver, Tyrik Mott, was also “racing the wrong way down Gates Avenue” when the […]
NYC Pols Discuss Unsafe Basement Apartments After Deadly Floods
The deadly flooding brought to New York City by the remnants of Hurricane Ida has sparked conversations among policymakers about the tens of thousands of New Yorkers living in dangerous and likely illegal basement apartments. As City and State reported last week, basement apartments are defined as those where at least half the unit is above grade, […]
How Can NYC Prepare For Future Flooding?
In the wake of the flash flooding that killed at least 22 in New York and New Jersey last week, local news publication City and State spoke with a variety of “climate experts and activists” about what what can be done to prepare New York City for future flooding events and protect New Yorkers from deadly floodwaters. […]
NY Assemblyman: Hold For-Profit Nursing Homes Accountable
A report released last year by New York Assemblyman Ron Kim examined the thousands of deaths from Covid-19 in the state’s nursing homes in an attempt to identify underlying problems that caused the raft of fatalities and what can be done to address those problems. The report, published by Kim’s office in July 2020, is […]
Lawmakers Call for National Vision Zero to End Car Crash Deaths
Two lawmakers have introduced a resolution that would call for a “National Vision Zero” campaign, according to a recent report by StreetsBlog. Vision Zero is an effort to eliminate traffic fatalities. The resolution, introduced by Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Representative Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, calls on Congress and the Department of Transportation to “commit to working together […]
New NYC Bill Would Increase Penalties for E-Bike Hit-and-Runs
New York State Senator Liz Krueger, who represents the Upper East Side of Manhattan, has introduced a bill that would “make it a felony for electric-vehicle riders to crash into someone and leave the scene,” according to a report by Steetsblog. The bill joins another proposal by State Senator Brad Hoylman of the Upper West Side which would […]
NYC Construction Deaths Yield No-Tolerance Sweeps
New York City building inspectors are implementing “zero-tolerance sweeps” in the city’s job sites, according to a recent report by Construction Dive. The sweeps are in response to “three worker deaths in recent weeks, two of which were the result of falls,” according to the report, and have resulted in 322 sites shut down due to hazardous conditions. The […]
The Citadel Rehab and Nursing Center Cited for Abuse, Elopement
The Citadel Rehab and Nursing Center at Kingsbridge has received eight citations for violations of public health laws between 2017 and 2021, according to New York State Department of Health records accessed on June 18, 2021. Those citations include a finding of systemic accident hazards in the facility, which also received a $10,000 fine in […]
NYC Devotes $39 Million to End Car Crashes on McGuinness Boulevard
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has committed to carving out nearly $40 million from the city’s budget to redesign Brooklyn’s McGuinness Boulevard, site of eleven pedestrian deaths and three cyclist deaths since 1995. According to StreetsBlog, a single 1.25-mile stretch of McGuinness Boulevard, from the Pulaski Bridge to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, has been […]
Study Finds Speeding Epidemic In New York City
A recent study by street safety advocacy group Transportation Alternatives has uncovered an epidemic of speeding in New York City, finding that 70% of drivers observed were driving faster than the speed limit. “Speeding drivers are a leading cause of death and injury on New York City streets,” the study notes, but because city officials “do not have control over speed […]
New Bill Would Reduce Blood Alcohol Limit in New York
The New York state legislature is currently considering a bill that would reduce the legal blood alcohol limit in the state from .08 to 0.05. If the bill becomes law, New York would be the second state in the nation to reduce the legal blood alcohol limit to .05, after Utah. According to a report by the New […]
Traffic Violence in New York Continues in April
Twenty-five people were killed in road violence incidents in New York City last month, in what StreetsBlog describes as “the deadliest April since Mayor de Blasio took office in 2014,” during “the second deadliest year for road violence” during his administration. The statistics, outlined in data released by think take Transportation Alternatives, cast a grim pall over the city’s […]
New York Safe Streets Activists Propose New Road Safety Legislation
Earlier this month a group of safe-streets lobbying groups in New York released the Crash Victims Rights and Safety Act, a collection of eight pieces of legislation “that will better support victims of traffic violence and make streets safer across New York State at a moment when traffic fatalities and speeding are both on the rise,” according […]
Motor Vehicle Accident Deaths Increased 24% from 2019-2020, Data Suggests
Data released by the National Safety Council found that 42,060 died in traffic violence in 2020, up 8.4% from the 38,800 motor vehicle accident deaths counted in the National Safety Council’s report for 2019. According to StreetsBlog, “because total annual mileage dropped about 13 percent during the nationwide quarantine, the one-year increase in the car crash fatality rate was the […]
NYC Bill Would Transfer Car Crash Investigation from NYPD to DOT
A new bill in the New York City Council would remove the New York Police Department’s authority to investigate car crashes, vesting that power instead with the city’s Department of Transportation. According to StreetsBlog, the bill is supported by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson but opposed by Mayor Bill de Blasio. In a statement to the publication, […]
New Research Finds Toxic Air in NYC Subways
New research has found that the New York City subway system contains toxic air quality, according to a new report in City and State. The research, published by NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine, took measurements of the air quality in 71 subway stations across the city, as well as in Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and Boston, during […]
Traffic Violence Affects Almost All New York City Residents, Research Shows
A new study by the transportation safety nonprofit organization Transportation Alternatives found that traffic violence is “a near-universal experience” for people living in New York City. According to the group’s research, 30% of New Yorkers have been injured in a traffic collision, while 70% of New Yorkers know someone who has either been injured or killed in a traffic collision. Transportation […]
Hospital Bedsore Risk Increases During Pandemic
Experts have expressed concerns that pressure injuries, also known as bedsores, have risen with the spike in hospitalizations during the Covid-19 pandemic. As such, according to a new report in USA Today, “hospitals are putting extra focus” on preventing bedsores, which more than 2.5 million people suffer from each year, according to a the National Pressure Injury Advisory […]
OSHA Releases Covid-19 Citation Data
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently released a list of its most common Covid-19 citations in construction and other industries, in order “to help employers understand which OSHA standards have been cited most frequently during COVID-19 related inspections.” The document was based on data OSHA maintains regarding its citations and inspections, which it states it initiated after complaints, […]
Do NYC’s Bike Lanes Do Enough To Protect Cyclists?
A deadly crash in Queens has sparked heated discussions about bicycle safety in New York City. As Gothamist reports, a 35-year-old delivery worker driving a motorized scooter, Alfredo Cabrera Liconia, “was killed by the driver of a Bud Light truck” last Thursday. Video of the incident shows Liconia’s Scooter “trapped under the wheels of the semi-truck, […]
Construction Workers At Higher Risk of COVID-19, Study Finds
A new study published online in JAMA Network Open finds that construction workers may be at high risk of Covid-19 infection. Conducted by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and the Santa Fe Institute, the study asked whether construction work is associated with increased community transmission of Covid-19 as well as disproportionate fatalities in US construction workers. […]
Work Zone Fatalities Up During Pandemic
Even as overall traffic levels fell over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of crashes and fatalities at work zones has risen, according to a recent report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Workers patching potholes, striping roads, directing traffic or building highways are more at risk than ever,” it states, “as drivers zoom through work zones or are […]