We must make safer streets for all New Yorkers

Last Halloween, 30 friends and family members gathered to celebrate the 30th birthday of Jacob Priley, a government employee-turned-publicist who advocated for safer streets in the city he loved in both his professional and personal life. We ate tacos, made birthday cards, and dressed up in costumes. But this wasn’t a normal celebration. It was in a hospital conference room and the friend we were celebrating was unconscious upstairs, unaware of the significance of the date.

Just weeks earlier, on Sept. 22, 2023, Jacob became a victim of the very system he had been working to change for years.

Jacob was biking home in Brooklyn when he was struck by a car, leaving him critically injured with a traumatic brain injury.

One year later, and his brain has yet to fully recover.

One year later, and more than 50,000 people have been injured on New York City streets.

One year later, and almost 300 people have died on New York City streets.

It doesn’t have to be like this. There are proven solutions before the city and state that could save lives.

The city must comply with the legally mandated NYC Streets Plan to build 50 miles of protected bike lanes annually (which this administration is woefully behind on), follow through with Mayor Adams’ commitment to make 1,000 intersections safer, comply with a state law that bans parking at the edges of intersections, and thoroughly implement Sammy’s Law — a bill Jacob worked on — by lowering the city’s speed limits in key areas.

Researchers have found that the crash rate decreases by 4 to 6% for every one mph reduction in speed, and the fatal crash rate decreases by 17%. Thirty percent of pedestrians struck by vehicles at an impact speed of 25 mph will sustain serious injury, and about 12% will die. In New York City’s Neighborhood Slow Zones, which lowered the speed limit to 20 mph in concentrated areas, there was a 14% reduction in injurious crashes and a 31% reduction in injuries for both drivers and passengers.

Gov. Hochul must follow the law and unpause congestion pricing. When London implemented its congestion pricing program, fatal crashes fell by 27%.

Albany legislators can and must pass statewide laws to make our streets safer.

The Complete Streets Maintenance Bill would enable street safety features on road projects funded by the state or federal funding and another bill would slow down reckless drivers by installing intelligent speed assistance technology (ISA) in the vehicles of the worst repeat offenders, a tool that has been found to lead to a 37% decrease in fatal collisions.

It is not complicated, and the cost of the status-quo is too high. It’s a horrible thing to have a loved one in this in-between.

Jacob is still with us and we are immensely grateful that we get to celebrate another birthday. We’re lucky that he is being provided with wonderful medical care so that we can hold onto hope for a full recovery. That we can talk to him, and believe that he is hearing us. But Jacob is also gone from our lives as we knew him. We’re grieving the person we lived and laughed with every day, the cheerleader who enthusiastically supported our endeavors, the confidante who intently listened and imparted such great advice (even if he wouldn’t always follow it himself). We’re missing our friend.

We miss Jacob when we walk past our go-to spots for bagels or coffee catch-ups, after-work drinks, or dinner dates.

We miss Jacob when something dramatic or hilarious happens in New York politics, as it frequently does.

We miss seeing the glint in his eye and his lips purse the way they do, right before he’s about to propose an absolutely outlandish idea.

We miss making plans with him and dreaming big with him.

We miss Jacob every day, for a million reasons big and small.

We’re missing our friend — but we know we’re not alone. Nearly one in three New Yorkers have been injured in traffic violence. For every person killed in a traffic crash in New York City, another 11 are severely injured leaving too many families and friends in the same boat as us. That must change.

Mayor Adams, follow through on the city’s infrastructure commitments and mandates. Governor, turn on congestion pricing. And Albany, support the state in making our streets safer.

Every day these laws aren’t passed or implemented, family and friends go through what all of us who love Jacob have endured this past year. Every day these laws aren’t passed or implemented, the city and state put New Yorkers at risk.

Berlow, Shuman and Wuest are friends of Jacob Priley’s.