By West Side Rag
Earlier this week, the Central Park Conservancy released a yearlong study on ways to improve safety within the park, specifically on the six miles of paved roadway, known as the Drives, that loop around the green space.
The study, and its subsequent recommendations, focused on redesigning Central Park to better serve pedestrians and cyclists, making the crosswalks safer, and putting more protective separations between people traveling at different speeds.
In recent weeks, West Side Rag undertook its own informal study, after hearing from many readers complaining about the challenges for pedestrians navigating through Central Park. The most frequent complaints are about crosswalks on West Drive, specifically that people are not adhering to the traffic lights and signals at those crosswalks — not the pedestrians, not the cyclists, not the pedicabs, not the joggers, not those riding scooters.
Not even the horse carriages.
In a Community Board 7 meeting in September, the former commanding officer of the Central Park Precinct, Anthony Lavino, acknowledged that it was “difficult to stop the cyclists at lights” within the park, though Lavino added: “we could probably step up our enforcement a little bit more.”
At the end of October, the Rag ventured into Central Park to collect its own data. How many pedestrians ignored the crosswalk signal? How many cyclists ignored the red light on the traffic signal? And what about the other groups?
A caveat is that jaywalking was legalized in New York City this October. The new law permits pedestrians to cross the roadway at any point.
On Thursday, October 24, we visited two crosswalks on West Drive within the park, one adjacent to West 70th Street, and the other adjacent to West 81st Street. We then returned two days later on Saturday, October 26, to the same two spots for a busier weekend comparison.
On both visits, we stood at the crosswalks for exactly 10 minutes and counted the number of times the traffic signals were ignored.
Here is what we found.
Thursday, October 24 at the West Drive crosswalk at West 70th Street: 12:34 to 12:44 p.m.
- Cyclists travel through crosswalk despite red light: 41
- Joggers travel through crosswalk despite red light: 20
- Pedicabs travel through crosswalk despite red light: 6
- Scooters travel through crosswalk despite red light: 3
- Horse and carriage travel through crosswalk despite red light: 2
- Pedestrians walking through crosswalk despite the red hand “don’t walk” signal: 14
That means in 10 minutes of standing at the 70th Street crosswalk within Central Park on October 24, we observed 86 examples of people ignoring the traffic signals.
And here’s how many pedestrians responded correctly to the signals:
- Pedestrians walking through crosswalk with the walk sign: 19
The longer green light at all of the Central Park crosswalks means there were hundreds of cyclists who traveled through the crosswalks with the correct traffic light, but there were simply too many to count.
During the 40 minutes the Rag monitored at the two crosswalks, we saw around a dozen cyclists stop at the light to allow for pedestrians to cross.
Saturday, October 26 at the West Drive crosswalk at West 70th Street: 1:54 to 2:04 p.m.
- Cyclists travel through crosswalk despite red light: 66
- Joggers travel through crosswalk despite red light: 28
- Pedicabs travel through crosswalk despite red light: 19
- Scooters travel through crosswalk despite red light: 1
- Horse and carriage travel through crosswalk despite red light: 2
- Pedestrians walking through crosswalk despite the red hand “don’t walk” signal: 56
In the 10-minute period of standing at the same crosswalk on October 26, we saw 172 instances of different types of Central Park travelers ignoring the traffic signals. That comes out to a little over 17 examples every 60 seconds.
- Pedestrians walking through crosswalk with the walk sign: 61
Thursday, October 24 at the West Drive crosswalk at West 81st Street: 1:14 to 1:24 p.m.
- Cyclists travel through crosswalk despite red light: 62
- Joggers travel through crosswalk despite red light: 9
- Pedicabs travel through crosswalk despite red light: 2
- Scooters travel through crosswalk despite red light: 0
- Horse and carriage travel through crosswalk despite red light: 0
- Pedestrians walking through crosswalk despite the red hand: 13
There is less pedestrian traffic at the West 81st Street crosswalk on West Drive, when compared to the busier West 70th Street crosswalk area near Strawberry Fields. In the 10-minute span, the Rag again observed 86 people ignoring some manner of traffic signal — the same number we found at the 72nd Street crosswalk on October 24, despite a different breakdown.
- Pedestrians walking through crosswalk with the walk sign: 12
Saturday, October 26 at the West Drive crosswalk at West 81st Street: 2:26 to 2:36 p.m.
- Cyclists travel through crosswalk despite red light: 93
- Joggers travel through crosswalk despite red light: 30
- Pedicabs travel through crosswalk despite red light: 2
- Scooters travel through crosswalk despite red light: 8
- Horse and carriage travel through crosswalk despite red light: 0
- Pedestrians walking through crosswalk despite the red hand: 31
During the 10-minute period of observation at the 81st Street crosswalk on Saturday, we saw 164 people traveling through Central Park ignore the traffic signals in front of them.
- Pedestrians walking through crosswalk with the walk sign: 59
When it comes to joggers, they are legally supposed to follow the same guidelines as pedestrians in New York City, but since jaywalking is no longer illegal, it is a gray area whether runners are expected to stop at red lights within the park.
Either way, it is certainly not an expectation for joggers to stop at Central Park traffic lights, but it does create another group of people traveling through the crosswalks as pedestrians attempt to get from one side of the roadway to the other.
In summation, the number of people following the traffic signals at the two Central Park crosswalks — whether on foot, in running shoes, biking, pedicabbing, or guiding a horse — paled in comparison to those that ignored the signals.
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I’m wondering if it would not work better to have both the traffic and pedestrian lights constantly flashing yellow/yield signs ~ as a warning to everyone that they should slow down before crossing through?
For the safety of all, but especially for visitors, children, and others who believe a walk sign means it’s safe to walk, a blinking walk sign would warn them that their right-of-way was not assured and they should look before crossing. And hopefully, a flashing yellow traffic light would remind those on the road that there might be cross traffic.
Someone might make the point that some form of yield sign could work, but the volume of people involved means that there will always need to be time for pedestrians to cross with a dedicated signal and cyclists to do the same. Otherwise the biggest bullies win and everyone else is angry about it without much recourse. I’m agnostic on the runners going through the light, although they need to be aware that they are in a shared space and not an exclusive running track and act accordingly. Why can’t we get enforcement of existing rules!!!?? I am a long time, very frequent user of the park and there did not used to be people riding all types of bikes and mopeds in pedestrian walkways. They will curse and act entitled if YOU don’t scoot out of their way!! I am a pedestrian about 90% of the time and a cyclist the rest. I manage to stop at lights and stay off pedestrian walkways and I don’t even have super powers. What makes it so hard for some many other cyclists? This report is incredibly frustrating because pedestrians were expressing their frustration with the lack of enforcement and got a report that focuses on the Loop when the pedestrian walkways desperately some enforcement and we can’t even get enforcement on the Loop either.
That is why I only and exclusively enjoy the park for my daily run after 10pm. empty, no humans. have the park to myself.
said no woman ever 😉
1. Good reporting. Thank you.
2. This makes me sad.
3. “During the 40 minutes the Rag monitored at the two crosswalks, we saw around a dozen cyclists stop at the light to allow for pedestrians to cross.” – did anyone stop at a red w/o a pedestrian in sight?
The lights should be turned flashing yellow in all directions. Reds and greens in the park are impractical and are ignored because most view them as an irrelevant anachronism in the park. According to Traffic Rules and Regulations §4-07 (c) Bikes must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. Reenforce that with signs. Problem solved.
“Reenforce that with signs”. If they’re not obeying the traffic signals, what makes you think they’ll obey a sign? Maybe re-enforce it with a police presence and summonses?
Traffic Signals! This is the CITY of YES! We don’t need any stinkin Traffic Signals
The biggest offenders are the walkers, joggers, and cyclists, not cars.
Or……
Let’s start having police hand out tickets to those who chose to run red lights, similar to what they randomly do with fare evaders. Brings money into the city and PERHAPS it would deter these offenders. Just a thought.
Also great reporting as always WSR 🙂
Great idea in theory, but how do they do this? An unlabeled bike flies through at 20 mph. How does the police officer stop them to give them a ticket? Get on an electric bike to chase them (which causes more problems than it solves)? Signal ahead to someone else to stop them (still not easy)? I’m not sure how to implement this. I would also love to have a speed limit for bikers but don’t know how to do that either. Central Park is not for “training.”
Joggers can generally avoid most groups of crossing walkers so I generally don’t have a big issue with them not stopping. A biker going with any speed at all is a different story – they are my bigger concern.
I would love to see pedestrians who cross against the light when it isn’t clear get fined. Not only in Central Park but everywhere. Note that I am saying “when it isn’t clear.” When in doubt, don’t go.
Along with pedestrians walking in the bike lane and crossing on red? Seems all are guilty
This is why, counterintuitively, some European towns have done away with traffic signals altogether. If everyone has to be aware of what’s going on, and watch for their safe chance to cross/continue, it actually can result in a safer, better flow (have you ever seem the streets of Hanoi?)
Read the full plan. What’s being recommended are multiple warnings of pedestrian crossings, raised crossing platforms and/or rumble strips to slow down vehicles, and other ways to make intersections more sensible and safe. And, yes, some new, lower lights, including possibly some flashers.
And remember: not every crossing is heavily used, or busy all the time. That’s one reason why people ignore the signals: a lot of the time, you just stand there and there’s no traffic coming. Ditto cyclists: no pedestrians waiting to cross,
In both Sweden and Denmark, the bike lanes have lights that work in conjunction with street and pedestrian lights. Everyone follows them. The social fabric is significantly stronger in Europe compared to NYC.
I cross at 70th at least twice a day and I d be happy to wait for the walk signal except since hardly any cyclist stops for the light I have to make a judgement call and go when I have a window. Otherwise I’d be standing there forever.
And that’s why it’s so dangerous. No way to know if you can make it across even when you have the signal.
Pedestrians in the park, can’t follow the traffic lights because they need to go when they can – – the bikes never stopped at the red lights
Bravo! A real New Yorker here!
I came here to make that very same comment
Exactly. Lights are irrelevant to pedestrians, including the elderly and parents with children, whose only option is to wait for a gap in the cyclists, regardless of the color of the light, then try to scurry across ahead of the Tour de France wannabe bearing down on them in the far lane.
As someone who occasionally cycles in the park (never on weekends, thank you!) I am shocked at how oblivious some pedestrians are. Its not a matter of crossing when they have a green light and I have a red; its that a lot of them cross in anywhere they want without even looking to see if a bike is coming. If they could just look up before they risk their lives and mine, I would appreciate it.
Bottom line: traffic light disobedience is a problem, but pedestrians crossing willy-nilly is just as bad.
No, pedestrians crossing will-nilly is not as bad. You will not be seriously injured-or even killed-by a pedestrian.
That’s only theoretically true. As the article’s stats show, “traffic light disobedience” is overwhelmingly a problem of cyclists, not pedestrians. The numbers don’t lie.
If I have the light I can cross. Willy or nilly.
This is the reality of biking in popular parks. Yes, cyclists have to watch out for pedestrians and assume there is always a kid/old person/reckless person/unaware tourist/etc ready to step onto the road. The same should apply to cars in central Manhattan – always watch out for pedestrians regardless of traffic lights and drive slowly – but it is a different story.
I agree traffic lights in Central Park should be replaced by flashing yellows and “yield to pedestrians” signs.
Jogging the park several times a week, I find most tourists to be in compliance with whatever the crowd initiates even if it is a full stop. The North Park is much more respectful of others
perhaps because of fewer riders etc. The ‘J-walking is not a crime’ tenor outside The Park is
naturally on full display inside. Its not an exaggeration to say the off leash dogs are better at
knowing their boundaries and what is right than a majority of the folks in the Park’s Loop. It
is somewhat disturbing to see so many cyclists ride expensive bikes, with care to wear fine
helmets, that can not stay out of the left side jogging lane….just too many amateur riders who
can’t control their ten speed hardware or snarky emotions. To coin a current attitude: The
Central Park is NOT for losers. Get with it bros or get lost. But hey, have a nice day okay?
The whole point of the CP Conservatory’s study is the existing signals were designed for cars, not the current (and much improved) use of the park. So improve the signals/signage but most of all just use common sense and look out for others, which is how I expect people are treating the lights today.
I’ll point out the WSR didn’t mention if they witnessed any collisions or near misses. I’m frequently walking through one of these crossings, so despite the griping, it seems like thousands of people are using the paths everyday without incident.
Only German tourists stop at a green light!
This is interesting, and the numbers of people ignoring the signals is important. The number of people counted following the rules here, though, is useless. For example, it would be more useful to count how many people WAITED for the light before crossing. The raw number of people crossing with the light includes, I’m sure, a large percentage who arrived at the crossing with the light in their favor. So those same people likely would have crossed against the light if it was not in their favor. The better statistical comparison would be those who crossed against the light compared to those who waited for the light to change to their favor. Same issue with cyclists. 150 cyclists may have gone through the intersection on the green light, and 145 of those might have gone through a red at the same intersection. But there are several important statistics for cyclists to count at the intersection: 1) how many ran the red 2) how many stopped for the red 3) how many ran the red while also failing to yield to pedestrians 4) how many ran the red when pedestrians were not present or without need to yield to a pedestrian and 5) how many ran the red while also yielding to any pedestrians present. Similarly, for the pedestrians, I’d want to know 1) how many crossed against the light, 2) how many crossed against the light when there was no traffic coming, 3) how many crossed against the light causing oncoming cyclists/vehicles to have to adjust (i.e. slow, swerve, change lanes, etc), 4) how many waited for the light to cross, and 5) how many crossed in total. Then, we could get better useful statistics to inform the value of the traffic lights.
Or you arrive at the correct solution by noting that despite the vastly lower number of riders compared to pedestrians, the cyclists offend at a higher rate than any other group.
Let the racing bikes have a loop on the north half of the park that they can race/ride fast like they’re doing now, keeping the lights and current rules for traffic and pedestrians with more warning for pedestrians. Might have to do a new cross-park paved road just above or below the reservoir. South of that, they can still ride like they do now but with a speed limit and warn of new periodic speed bumps to slow everybody down.
Relatedly, in London.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/transport/article/pictured-lime-bikers-skip-red-light-84-times-in-an-hour-phlfvtlgd
The problem is larger than the Central Park Drive. With bike lanes on every avenue riders wiz past and never stop for any signals or pedestrians. Buses stop outside of the bike lanes and one can be hit by riders in both directions. Is this the way the Gitu wants to decrease population?
I use the park everyday with my dogs first thing in the am. Yes, people go through the lights but if I am crossing at one, with it my light there is definitely an awareness of bikers of me. Also, the lights do seems to create an additional slowing of a volume of bikers since some do actually are compelled to stop.
(And mind you, this is when the park is relatively quiet.)
And sorry to potentially offend: Always men arethe worst offenders. From the very fancy biker men to the delivery workers. The whole gamut. If a biker is actually going to stop, it will most likely (although not always) be a woman.
Finally, having the lawlessness on the drive also creates a further permission structure for all kinds of bikes to be everywhere – on all paths, fields where they don’t belong.
But whatever! So what! And maybe “i’ll just go to my country house if I want some green tranquility! “says Central Park Conservancy!
I am contacting Central Park Conservancy to let them know I will not be donating to them until they develop a policy that makes Central Park the peaceful amazing place it should be for all New Yorkers to enjoy.
Excellent reporting, WSR!!!
Great reporting, thank you!!!!
The study observed the same behavior- everyone ignoring traffic signals. But the solution is NOT to eliminate signals and thereby leave pedestrians to play a game of chicken with cyclists and e-bikes!
Yet the study suggests precisely that “solution “. The conservancy will never get another penny from people who care about me or other pedestrians.
Pedestrians are the heaviest users of Central Park and they are being spat upon by this “study” crafted for ebikers and Transportation Alternatives.
Bikers are the biggest offenders – especially those who have their high-end road bikes, dressed in their spandex suits, etc. Sorry all, but this isn’t Tour de France. If you can’t be bothered to stop at a red light perhaps you should bike somewhere else.
The only bikes I’ve ever seen stop at red lights are usually people who look like tourists on citi bikes. Ironic how they are able to follow the rules but not the natives.
you know what’s funny? I’ve run in CP for decades and it never occurred to me that the lights were for runners. I never stopped running for a red light (and this never caused any problem). The lights clearly seemed to be there for the car traffic, to allow any pedestrians safe passage across. Bikes stopped more often because they were with cars.
With the (very good) removal of cars from the park, longtime uses of the park see the lights as a vestige of that time. As a pedestrian I cross whenever I can. When I cycle through the park I’m conscious of the lights, and stop at a red light when there is anyone remotely near, but not if no one is. And as a runner I still never stop.
I am a frequent walker in the park. Not only do the bikers, speed bikers, etc not stop for red lights, neither do the police. I do not wait for the light as it is not safe to cross just because I have the light. I have to wait for a break in the traffic. Also in the last year I have seen more and more bikers, ebikers, using the pathways then I ever saw in the past.
Maybe levers that come down when the light turns red should be installed at each light. . It works in parking garages and train stations in towns where the LIRR and MetroNorth go through. They could be decorative to go with the theme of nature and the park.
E bikes should be banned from Central Park.
Intro 0060-2024 is the bill. 20 council members have signed it so far. Sam Schwartz’s redesign is around TRANSPORTATION. Our parks are for respite and relaxation- not transportation! Majority of New Yorkers dont want this redesign. We will fight it tooth and nsil. He deigned an e bike highway in out park and suggests that pedestrians take historic archways to enter. It rajes aeay the wooden separation fir runners! Runners – please reavh out to nyc-evsa!
If you are against e vehicles in our parks – please reach out to NYC E Vehicle Safety Alliance.
The bike lobby – Transportation Alternatives is behind all of this. Its all about more e bike ridership in our parks. Please denounce this design! Our parke are our only oasis left to escape e vehicles!
E bikes should actually be banned from NYC. It would make all of our lives a lot better. Sorry your wonton soup or pizza didn’t get to you quite as quickly. It is worth it to save a few lives.
Elevated pedestrian bridges. Bikes didn’t need to stop, nor do pedestrians! I’ll pay for it!
If pedestrians waited for the signals they would be waiting all day. Bicyclists, the major offenders don’t stop no matter the light situation.
(bikers must obey the same rules of the road as car drivers), but for all practical purposes the rules are unenforceable. The offenders simply whiz off and disappear, with no fear of apprehension. This impunity has developed because there is currently no way for police or pedestrians to quickly identify and record the free-wheeling offenders.
Solutions: (1) Bikers should be required to wear light-weight reflective vest bibs, with 6-inch numbers front and back, like the ones worn by marathoners. Purchased in bulk, they would cost only a few dollars apiece. The City should require all cyclists 18 and older to register with a simple government-issued photo i.d., and give the bibs to cyclists free of charge. Cyclists who ride without registered bibs would face impoundment of their bikes, parallel to what happens to motor vehicles when drivers are unable to produce license, registration or insurance cards.
We live in a city where even the teensiest impalpable risk to life and limb is regulated and controlled [e.g., smoking in parks and beaches]. We give cyclists bike lanes, but require nothing in the way of insuring pedestrian safety in return. That must change.
Silly solution to make people wear vests. A bicycle license plate would yield better results.
It is the rider who is violating the law, not the bike, and it is the rider who must be identified easily and sanctioned accordingly.
the traffic lights are timed for cars. The timing is not good for bicycles, which is why they don’t stop. But there should be several places where pedestrians can safely cross. There has to be enforcement of traffic violations (including on the streets and sidewalks of NYC as well).
Where would those “several places” be, if not where people aready need to cross?
I’ve been hit and injured by cyclists 3 times. I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Please tell me why the ‘timing,’ is not good for bikes and why they don’t stop (as in it’s a conscious decision?). I don’t understand the mindset here.
Is Central Park exempt from ADA rules regarding intersections and crosswalks?
The entitled bikers seem to be exempt from all rules and regulations.
I don’t understand the frequent use of the word ‘entitled’. Just because someone wants to do something a certain way doesn’t mean they feel entitled.
Does walking on the Pedestrian Path is not safe from the bikers, who cut into it in order to pass another biker in front of them. Also, individual joggers are not nearly the problem that the increasing numbers of school students and their coaches present when they take over the paths after school, running timed races, running in packs.
Excuse me? Track and field teams have trained in Central Park for decades. My squad trained there 3-4x a week during our winter season. That is precisely the sort of thing parks are for. They’re not museums of grass
It would be interesting to know how many of the bikes counted were e-bikes (or other motorized conveyance) as opposed to human-powered ones.
It is very impractical to get cyclists, joggers especially to stop at lights. You are in a rhythm and stopping for a light is not going to happen.
Doesn’t matter how you try and fix the signals, get police to issue tickets (how many are they going to issue? How will they decide to issue a ticket to one cyclist and not the next one? etc.)
A potential solution, albeit probably controversial, is to build an overpass for pedestrians at specific locations. Then you can get rid of the lights.
This is the only practical situation. But would obviously require the park to “change” …
81st is a great place to illustrate the issue. I’m a keen runner, cyclist and a parent of two little people. It takes very little effort to stop a bike at the 81st light, come to a complete stop, let people cross and then accelerate away. It makes you fitter and no one gets hurt – but there are too many a**holes who think it’s ok to bomb through busy crossings and risk lives. They should get meaningful tickets on the spot ($200+) to make them think twice. There are other more remote parts of the park where if it’s absolutely clear there aren’t any people crossing, then cyclists can roll through, but not at ridiculous speeds and at their own risk. It would be disappointing to get a ticket for doing that so some discretion is needed (a police car waved me thru a red light the other day as they also slowly rolled thru). Yield signs don’t really work but STOP signs might be more effective – look at the 85th street crossing or the Pier 1 cafe crossing in the summer – no amount of education, rumble strips, raised crossings, will change the way that cyclists behave IMHO – lights and stop signs make it clear that the duty of care is with the biker/scooter just like it is on the road and if you ignore the rules you get fined. I just hope the changes are sensible!
Get some motorcyle cops and ticket every cyclist who blows through a red light. This will raise thousands of dollars a day. Use the money to fix up the park.
Not a surprise. Bikes rarely observe traffic signals in the park or on the streets of the UWS. And I am not writing about delivery people, I am writing about recreational bikers. And that includes people in racing gear and tourists.
I have started a column of all the people and things that annoy me in Central Park
1. Too many pedicabs blocking roads and going the wrong way
2. people out for a stroll with friends blocking the running lane – use the paths
3. Tourists on e-bikes taking selfies
4. Those who ride the wrong way
5. High speed electric scooters
6. cyclists who go into the running lane
7. Runners who go up the middle of the bike lane
And 8 – walkers who have ruined the reservoir running track by walking wrong way in groups – often with dogs and strollers despite many signs
There are lots of things to be annoyed at in the park besides cyclists – you might be one of the offenders above.
No surprise here. The speed racer wannabes on bikes are the biggest offenders. It’s been that way for decades.