Brooklyn, NY – Elected officials and street safety advocates, led by Assemblymember Brian A. Cunningham (D-Brooklyn), held a press conference Friday at Parkside Preparatory Academy to support the passage of A.5001 (Cunningham) by the Assembly. Introduced earlier this legislative cycle, the bill would improve street safety for students by establishing scramble crosswalks at school buildings in New York City.

A scramble crosswalk, also known as a pedestrian scramble or Barnes Dance, stops vehicular traffic in all directions while pedestrians are crossing the street. This design makes for safer movement, allowing pedestrians to cross in any direction including diagonally and mitigating the risk of collisions with turning vehicles. While the bill’s counterpart in the Senate, S.2515 (Ramos) passed the Senate in May, A.5001 did not advance out of the Transportation Committee.

“Every child deserves a safe and healthy learning environment – not just in the classroom and hallways, but as they travel to and from school,” said Assemblymember Brian A. Cunningham. “Too many of our young scholars have lost their lives or suffered life-altering injuries because of unsafe streets. This bill is just one of many steps we can take to protect kids from traffic violence. I am calling on my colleagues in the Assembly to pass this legislation and send it to Governor Hochul before more children are hurt or killed.”

“As the mother of two public school children, I know the peace of mind this bill will bring to parents across the city. A simple design choice outside every public school will do so much to advance the goals of Vision Zero and make our streets safer,” said State Senator Jessica Ramos (D, Queens).

“All New Yorkers deserve safe streets - including and especially children,” said NYC Council Majority Whip Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, Chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. “Today, I join my state colleagues in calling for more scramble crosswalks near schools. Last year, more children died due to traffic violence than in any year since Vision Zero began in 2014. We must pursue innovative solutions to reduce risk and improve street safety, and I look forward to continuing to work alongside State and City partners to save lives.”

“This year, we passed the grim milestone of over 100 child traffic fatalities since the onset of Vision Zero,” said Elizabeth Adams, Deputy Executive Director for Public Affairs at Transportation Alternatives. “This is an emergency, and our elected leaders must do everything to ensure New York’s children are safe commuting to and from school every day. Thank you to Assemblymember Cunningham and Senator Ramos for pushing for critical legislation to enable scramble crosswalks at school buildings — this bill can and would make it safer for children in all five boroughs, and we hope to see it pass next session.”

“My 13-year-old son, Kevin, was struck and killed by an oil truck while riding his bike on Lewis Avenue at Jefferson Avenue in 2018. Every day without him is cruelly, unbearably painful. Kevin was chasing his dream of starting his own clothing brand. He was very talented and was working to apply to art high schools. He was one of over one hundred children killed on our roads since Vision Zero was launched. Every death is preventable, and every death is policy failure. Traffic violence continues to be the number one cause of injury-related death for NYC children. Giving pedestrians exclusive time to cross streets near schools, limiting the conflicts they have with dangerous vehicles, is just common sense. We thank AM Cunningham and Senator Ramos for taking action and urge swift passage of this legislation.” said Margarita Flores, Mother of Kevin Flores.

Last year was the deadliest for children on New York City streets since the adoption of Vision Zero in 2014. Traffic collisions caused the deaths of 16 children as young as five in 2022. Advocates stressed the importance of protecting children from traffic violence as the 2023-2024 school year gets underway and urged members of the Assembly Transportation Committee to advance the bill out of committee.