2026 "Safe streets start with YOU!" Contest - 2nd Place Essay by Faiyaz Rasul

Every time someone steps off a curb, they are taking a risk. They risk the driver seeing them. They risk the light working. They risk having enough time. In 2023, that risk failed 7,314 times—about 20 people killed every day in pedestrian traffic accidents on American roads (NHTSA, 2025). From 2009 to 2023, pedestrian deaths increased by 80 percent, while all other traffic fatalities rose only 13 percent (GHSA, 2025). This is not bad luck. It is a pattern. And patterns have causes. American streets were built to move cars quickly, not to keep pedestrians safe. That choice has a serious cost. It is time to redesign streets to prioritize pedestrians using solutions based on how people actually behave, not how we wish they would.

I arrived in New York City from Bangladesh in October 2024, and crossing the street here surprised me immediately. On Atlantic Avenue near Flatbush, I saw students step off the curb before the signal turned white, weaving between slowing cars because waiting meant being late to class. They were not being reckless; the street simply offered no better option. What surprised me more was what happened when the light changed: drivers turning right would cut into the crosswalk without slowing, unaware that pedestrians had just received the walk signal and were already in the street. The pedestrian and the car both saw green at the same moment, heading toward the same spot. This is not a behavior issue. It is a design issue. The data backs this up: 74 percent of pedestrian fatalities in 2023 occurred at mid-block locations with no signals or protection (NHTSA, 2025). Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn is one place where the city is finally taking action. According to Stefanos Chen of The New York Times, a proposed redesign would reduce pedestrian crossings from 39 to 24, cutting down on points where drivers and pedestrians collide (Chen, 2026).

The first fix should happen at the crosswalk itself. Not the painted lines and broken push buttons that often do nothing, but a system that responds to people whether they press anything or not. Sensor-activated smart crosswalks use motion detectors to detect pedestrians approaching the curb and automatically trigger LED lights embedded in the pavement and flashing beacons on the poles above (NHTSA, 2025). Since the alert is at ground level, right where a driver's eyes already are, it works for the student with headphones who cannot hear a car speeding through a yellow. MTI research shows that sensor-based detection systems using cameras and real-time machine learning can identify pedestrians and trigger alerts before a conflict occurs, even at night (Kulhandjian, 2024). That matters because 77 percent of pedestrian deaths happen in the dark (NHTSA, 2025). This is what the FHWA's Safe System approach calls for: infrastructure built around the reality that people are distracted and late, not the assumption that they are always paying attention (FHWA, 2021).

The second solution would address the exact problem I witnessed on Atlantic Avenue. A Leading Pedestrian Interval (LPI) gives pedestrians a 3- to 7-second head start before drivers get the green signal (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2024). When the walk signal comes first, pedestrians are already moving and visible by the time a turning driver gets the green light. No construction, no new hardware—just a reprogramming of a signal controller that already exists. Research on New York City's LPI program found roughly a 19 percent reduction in pedestrian injuries at treated intersections (Rondeau et al., 2024). LPIs fix the turning conflict at intersections; sensor crosswalks protect mid-block locations where 74 percent of deaths occur (NHTSA, 2025). One costs almost nothing. The other is a lighting installation. Together they tackle the two scenarios where pedestrians are most likely to be killed.

The most common concern is emergency vehicle access. LPI systems can work with emergency vehicle preemption so an approaching ambulance overrides the pedestrian head start before anyone enters the crosswalk. Speed tables near schools can include cutouts to let emergency vehicles pass at full speed. The FHWA's Safe System framework is clear that good design protects everyone, including the people responders are rushing to help (FHWA, 2021). This is a coordination problem, not a reason to leave signals unchanged.

These solutions benefit those who need them most. The extra seconds of an LPI matter to an elderly pedestrian who cannot run across six lanes in time. An Accessible Pedestrian Signal gives blind pedestrians the same information sighted pedestrians receive from a flashing light. For students on Atlantic Avenue who cross early because they have no better option, a mid-block sensor crosswalk creates a protected crossing that matches how they actually move. Pedestrian deaths fall hardest on those who walk out of necessity (National Safety Council, 2025). Designs that account for human behavior do not expect pedestrians to be perfect.

Streets are not neutral. Every city makes a choice, every time it builds or ignores infrastructure, about whose safety it prioritizes. For most of the last century, that choice favored cars. But things are changing. Grand Army Plaza is being redesigned. Cities are adjusting signals. Sensor crosswalk trials are expanding. The tools exist, the data is clear, and some places are already seeing results. The risk pedestrians take every time they step off a curb does not have to be this severe. The odds are starting to shift. We just need more cities to decide that finishing this work is worth it.

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