Amber Adler, Families for Safe Streets, testifies on traffic deaths
Amber Adler, a car crash survivor and member of Families for Safe Streets, says Vision Zero is achievable and cites traffic deaths including four-year-old Zachariah Padilla, Yvette James, Paulina Techchok, and her neighbor Natasha Sada and her daughters. She calls the deaths preventable with better infrastructure and policy.
Thank you.
Sorry.
Good afternoon.
My name is...
Is that good?
Good afternoon.
My name is Amber Adler.
I'm a car crash survivor and a member of Families for Safe Streets New York, of whom I'm testifying on behalf of also for today.
When Vision Zero was first introduced in 2014,
It seemed like a noble but impossible goal.
However, today it is highly accepted and significantly as a significantly viable route to safety and in many cities, a reality.
From Oslo, Norway to Hoboken, New Jersey, we now have proof positive that Vision Zero is truly achievable.
Underline achievable.
That being said, this is a way to save lives.
Cities are using this road design to make walking, biking, and driving safer, and it saves lives.
Meanwhile, this year so far in New York, over 150 New Yorkers have been killed in traffic already.
Including four-year-old Zachariah Padilla, who was killed by an SUV driver when he was walking with his mother.
A 79-year-old woman, Yvette James, who was killed by an SUV driver that jumped the curve and hit her on the sidewalk.
29-Year-old Paulina Techchok, mother of a young daughter who was killed by a truck while biking to work.
All of this is insanity.
And of course, in 2024, the Ocean Parkway crash that killed my neighbor, Natasha Sada, and her two young daughters as they crossed the street on Shabbos after shul.
That super speeder, may I note, Miriam Yurimi, sits behind bars, but will be back on the street as soon as next year.
Three years was the minimum of her sentence.
These deaths are preventable.
And with different infrastructure design and policy changes, each one of these New Yorkers could, would still be alive.
We know this because our peer cities around the world are dramatically safer.
And in fact, New Yorkers are twice as likely to be killed in a traffic crash as compared to neighbors in London, Paris, Tokyo.
Wow, that got me.
I had a lot to say.
It goes fast.
Yeah, I know.
I'm like.
Thank you.