A child and a crossing guard were killed in school crosswalks within one week as the NYPD cuts crossing guard jobs.
Writing in Curbed, Clio Chang describes the growing safety crisis in New York City’s crosswalks, particularly those near schools. “A Streetsblog investigation from last year found that streets near the city’s schools are much more dangerous during open school hours than the average city street. Crashes occur more often on school streets compared to regular streets, a statistic that increases near schools serving poorer students and students of color.”
During peak morning and afternoon travel-to-and-from-school hours, there is a crash outside of schools every 17 minutes.
Yet Chang points out that the NYPD eliminated close to 500 school crossing guard jobs before the beginning of this school year, and working conditions for those who remain are treacherous: “According to Streetsblog, 73 school crossing guards have been struck and injured by cars in the past decade,” including one crossing guard who was killed just last week.
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