New Jersey City ‘Weaponizes’ Parking Rules to Cut Traffic Fatalities
As cities and states across the country experience jumps in traffic accidents and pedestrian fatalities, several aggressive public safety initiatives launched in Hoboken NJ have helped cut the number of crashes, injuries and deaths.
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An Intersection in Hoboken / Photo by Ganzology via Flickr
As cities and states across the country are seeing jumps in traffic accidents and pedestrian fatalities, a series of aggressive public safety initiatives have helped the city of Hoboken, NJ cut down crashes, injuries and deaths, Curbed reports.
For Curbed, reporter Christopher Robbins interviewed Ryan Sharp, Hoboken’s Director of Transportation and Parking. Sharp said Hoboken’s DOT has “weaponized” an already-existing law: New Jersey traffic regulations prohibit parking within 25 feet of a crosswalk, about one parking spot’s worth of space.
“Because it’s dead space, right? So what can we do with that space?” Sharpe said. “Get more utility in an urban environment, where every square inch, every square foot, of space is so valuable.”
Hoboken fills that buffer zone up, blocking it off from drivers with bike racks, extended sidewalks, and other utilitarian obstacles.
Clearing that space is part of a safety strategy called “daylighting,” expanding sight-lines and overall visibility between pedestrians and motorists at an intersection
Sharp credits a great deal of Hoboken’s success to the city’s investment in public space and commitment to addressing traffic dangers from Mayor Ravi Bhalla down to the city council.
Graphic showing how daylighting streets increases visibility Credit: NACTO Urban Street Design Guide
Other cities can make these changes too. The National Association of City Transportation Officials recommends in its Urban Street Design Guide that cities across the country start implementing a 20-25 feet parking exclusion area around intersections to daylight them and make them safer.
Hoboken’s public safety success comes while the United States weathers a shocking increase in pedestrian deaths across the country.
In 2021, New Jersey State Police reported the state’s highest number of pedestrian fatalities in over 30 years and greatest number of traffic deaths of any kind since 2007. Fatal accidents in New Jersey have increased 18.6 percent in 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, too.
Hoboken hasn’t had a single traffic fatality since 2018.
Audrey Nielsen is a TCR Justice Reporting intern.
