In New York, we know, the pace of their own steps is marked by that of the clacsons: it is the busiest city in the world, where on average every driver spends 100 hours a year still in traffic, or about four days lost in the queue. It is a primacy disputed only with Istanbul, the most populous city of Turkey and the whole of Europe with 16 million inhabitants, and also this has a cost: it is estimated about 2,000 dollars of loss per year for each citizen, because – of course – traffic also affects production.
Also for all this, clearly, makes every change to the transport system and especially important roadworthiness. This is the case of the recent change to the rules on pedestrian passages, which came into effect this year, which more restricts the responsibilities of motorists and cyclists towards pedestrians. This is a rib of the Vision Zero program launched in 2014 and aims to drastically reduce dead and injured on the streets of New York. According to data from the New York Department of Transport, in 2023 road accidents caused over 250 victims, a significant part of which pedestrians.
The central point of the new standard is the obligation to complete stop: in the absence of traffic lights or stop signals, the vehicles must stop and stay still until the pedestrian has crossed the entire road, i.e. from sidewalk to sidewalk. It is no longer enough to slow down or let go “half”.
The rule applies both to marked crossings and unmarked ones, i.e. the so-called “implied crosswalks” present at each urban crossing. In practical terms, this significantly extends the situations in which the pawn has absolute priority.
The regulation is accompanied by a tightening of sanctions. Since February 2026, the failure to precede pedestrians has 5 points on the license, compared to the previous 3. Considering that in the state of New York the suspension can trigger at reaching 10 points, two violations are enough to risk the withdrawal of the driving license.
L’articolo Another thing to risk the suspension of your license in New York proviene da IlNewyorkese.
