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Last night I witnessed a horrendous vehicle/pedestrian accident at 135th and Madison in Manhattan. I am appalled to learn here that community efforts to improve safety conditions at this intersection have "fallen on deaf ears." I think the city officials who have chosen to ignore these dangerous conditions should be held accountable for the accident (probable death) I witnessed.

I for one say a lot of times the pedestrian is at fault, mainly because they are told they have "the right of way". So no one looks both ways anymore around here!

I have almost hit someone that did that, it was the closest I ever want to get. If they would of not had the snow plowed on the main street it would of been all over.

The bicyclists too are just as bad as the peds. The problems from them two groups get worse as the weather gets nicer.

Maybe if you wanna walk or ride a bicycle, there should be a written test and a bicycle road test or walking test, and if you pass you will get your walking or bicycle license.

In my experience as a cyclist and driver -- although I have not used the car in over 3 months and routinely commute by bicycle -- pedestrians are often careless. I have had more close calls with people jumping out in front of me than with bad drivers or wrong way cyclists coming towards me against traffic (and there are a lot of bad drivers).

"Pedestrians have the right of way" does not mean you can jump in front of a vehicular road user, bicycle or automobile, and they can magically stop.

I was hit by a car as a pedestrian while walking safely along a roadside in my youth -- it's why my right leg is shorter than the other -- so I have sympathy with careful pedestrians who are run down. But most pedestrians I see are so blatently clueless it's a miracle they've either not hit a bus or caused some hapless law abiding cyclist to be pitched in front of a truck.

Cars go through stop signs and don't stop at intersections that have no traffic signals. The drivers do not look out for pedestrians or wheelchair-bound people crossing the street. They only look out for other cars. Some drivers park in the cutout section of the pedestrian crosswalk where it is the only place where a wheelchair can cross,blocking the crossing. Bicycle riders making deliveries rush along on the sidewalk making people dodge out of the way.Buses go through stop signs and red lights.
One dangerous intersection is W 184 St and Bennett Ave;the 34th PCT couldn't care less.

One of the most dangerous area for pedestrians and bikers in Chinatown is the intersection of Bowery and Canal, right off the Manhattan Bridge. 5 people have died there last year and one two weeks ago. The community has asked DOT to put signs or speed bumps to slow down the traffic comming off the Manhattan Bridge. How many more people will have to die before they finally do something?

FYI - Wiley's last name is "Norvell", not "Norville".

@Office Worker from Brooklyn

I agree with you in that many people overstate the dangers of cyclists who break the law, but it is a danger nonetheless.

It's just funny that people complain about people on bikes who ride dangerously before cars who are, like you said, far more dangerous.

That said, cyclists who ride against traffic and on sidewalks present a danger to themselves, other cyclists, and especially pedestrians.

The people complaining about bicycle misbehavior are off the mark.

I see this all the time here and on Gothamist or anywhere where traffic in New York is discussed; people actually have the nerve to suggest that bicycle riders are as dangerous as motor vehicle drivers. It's preposterous in every sense and sends the entire discussion down the drain. Flat out, it doesn't matter if once (or ten times) some bad cyclist "almost hit" you. If a CAR were to hit you, that's a wrap.

People fear what they don't understand. We have a good enough understanding of motor vehicles that their use (and abuse) has been normalized in our culture. Bikes are less understood. "What's the point," of bikes, some ask. That's not as good of a question to my mind, however, as "why are you more afraid of a 150-200 pound object moving at 15-25 miles per hour than you are of a 2-3 TON object moving at 30-60 miles per hour?"

Attention needs to be paid to the intense packed streets leading to the Queensboro Bridge coming down Second Avenue to the bridge. Frequently, the intersections are totally blocked, keeping pedestrians of ALL ages, strollers, persons with walkers and canes, et al,unable to cross. There are no traffic managers posted above 63rd Street; they are required as far north as 72nd Street. St. the very least, there needs to be more time between lights; even at less traffic times, getting across is dificult. HELP!!

Speedbumps
I drove for a person with a bad back. No matter how slowly I drove over a speed bump, the vertical jostling could cause her agony.
This attack on the handicapped is an unintended consequence of "traffic calming" speed bumps.
A properly designed bump can minimize such agony.
A badly designed bump will maximize the agony, and possibly injure a truck driver in an unladen truck, while not at all bothering a fast driver in a car with with stiff suspension.

When they redid the off ramps for the bqe at 37th ave (woodside/jackson heights border), not only was the intersection made far more confusing and dangerous for pedestrians (to the benifit of motorists, of course), but TWO BLOCKS OF SIDEWALK WAS COMPLETELY REMOVED!!!!

There are still walk/(mostly)don't walk signs at these intersections....EXPLAIN THAT ONE.

Problems (ranked roughly by seriousness)

1. Reckless drivers, negligent drivers, drunk drivers

2. Poor traffic layout & intersections that put pedestrians at risk

3. cyclists riding on sidewalks, against traffic

4. Inattentive pedestrians, "reckless pedestrians"

What are your top 4/5 problems with NYC traffic/streets? I'd like to see how others rank them.

Let the street vendors move into the street. Not to endanger or punish them for being some sort of nuisance, but to treat pedestrians--the real engines of NYC's economy--better.

Why should pedestrians be ghettoized into tiny, horribly congested scraps of land?

I know car traffic is already unhealthily congested on Canal Street, yet that is precisely why I ask: would taking space away from cars there really be so wrong?

The intersection of 41st street and dyer avenue (btwn 9th and 10th avenues) is extremely dangerous. Hunter College's MFA program is located at this intersection, in a large warehouse building. Many students have been hit by cars who are coming out of the Lincoln Tunnel onto Dyer and they turn extremely quickly into 41st street without looking for pedestrians who are crossing the street and who have the walk sign. There needs to be a larger delay for their green light so that we can walk across the street without fearing our life. I have lived in NY my entire life, and never have I seen an intersection like this. I run across the street when the walk sign appears constantly looking over my shoulder for the aggressive turning cars. Whenever people come to visit out studios we are forced to send out a warning email about how dangerous this intersection is. A professor was even killed by a hit and run bus around 8 years ago, and nothing has changed!

Please help us tell the city to DO SOMETHING!!

Thank you, and I LOVE your show. It's added so much to look forward to on my many unemployed days : )

East 77th Street & York Ave.: Especially after dark, delivery bikes, unlit, speed through the lights both ways, against traffic, zigzagging any which way, during the pedestrian cross time. Trying to cross York Avenue requires incredible vigilance. During the day, bikes are all over sidewalks, not just deliveries, but helmeted residents, claiming the sidewalk as a right of way, disregarding traffic lights. There appears to be no level of regulation that curtails this. Cars also make u-turns in front of a school, over a double yellow line, day and night.

According to The Almanac of New York City (Columbia University Press, 2008), not one of the most dangerous intersections for pedestrians is in Manhattan's Chinatown. Number one on the list of fifty intersections is East 33rd Street and Park Avenue. Some intersections along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn and most of the major avenues in Manhattan, are far more dangerous than any place in Chinatown, according to this source at least.

I cross Houston and Chrystie Streets several times a day. The cross from the NE corner to the SE corner feels very unsafe--the light isn't long enough to permit a reasonable crossing before the left-hand signal allows cars, trucks and many buses to cross the pedestrian route.

96th and WEA is very dangerous. Cars speed through the light, going to the West Side Highway. There were cameras set up, but now they seem to be just rusting and not in use.

Where is the City Ad Campaign that says " Pedestrians First"
I'm sure some one will donate the creative end and the city owns the sign space....let's do it

I agree with David[18], install more cameras and issue more tickets. Except they should be really steep fines to significantly deter bad behavior and to increase the city's coffers.

Yes, there's terrible congestion in Chinatown. But all the street improvements would not change the fact that it was the NEGLIGENCE of that driver that KILLED those children. No amount of traffice and street safety improvements will protect against a driver who leaves his car in gear and unattended.

Drivers will not reform until they face real penalties for their behavior. Please do a show asking why drivers who kill and maim pedestrians and bikers often don't receive so much as a traffic ticket--let alone criminal prosecution. (Was the chinatown driver ticketed??)

Why are the legislators now calling for traffic improvements in Chinatown sidestepping this very real issue? ANd if you are hit by a car a a biker or pedestrian, try getting compensated. No fault insurance laws are biased toward drivers and cars. Do a show on it, you'll find out this is a real issue.

I work in Chinatown and have always been frustrated by businesses, particularly the produce distributors, that take up the public sidewalk. This often forces pedestrians into the curb.

To follow up on negligent drivers, there seems to be an unwritten rule in the city that at least one car can go through each red light. (Lately it's more like two.) This makes every intersection unsafe, yet in ten years in the city I have NEVER seen a driver ticketed for this. If you'd ticket one driver per hour per intersection for running the red light, we could probably solve the city's budget problems and make the city a lot safer at the same time.

The sidewalks in Chinatown are too narrow for the heavy foot traffic -- but the narrow streets offer little alternative (other than a ban on cars).
In my neighborhood (Houston and Sullivan) the two most dangerous intersection are:
- 6th and Houston where so many cars are turing north off of Houston onto 6th that only the bravest challenge the cars to a game of chicken to get across the avenue before the light changes
- the entrance to the Holland Tunnel off of Varick where the Walk light goes on when the cars are turning into the intersection and Don't Walk is on when the cars have a red light. I regularly see pedestrians running for their lives as New Jersey bound drivers (many unfamiliar with NYC pedestrian right-of-way rules) charge at them.

Have all commercial deliveries completed by 9 a.m.

This is what they do in Provincetown, Massachusetts, along Commercial Street, which is heavily traveled by pedestrians and tourists during the day.

Also, in Boston, all commercial deliveries occur in alleys BEHIND the businesses. This is where garbage pick-up occurs too.

Delancey and Clinton at foot of Williamsburg bridge: Crossing light timing doesn't allow pedestrians to cross Delancey unless you run! I have seen many close calls where people try to beat the lights, which seem to be timed for traffic flow.

Downtown Atlantic Ave intersection- Drivers are speeding down Flatbush/ Atlantic Ave - There is no protection for pedestrians crossing the street - Even standing on the curb I have often felt too close to passing cars. How about a pedestrian overpass?

In California if a car enters the crosswalk with a pedestrian, you get a ticket.
We need that here.
Cars are second and pedestrian must be giving priority.
Where is the ad campaign that puts pedestrians first?
We should have billboards at all bridges and tunnels
that tell drives it s a different world in NY.

No one mentions pedestrian behavior in this discussion. I was recently driving in Chinatown for the first time in awhile. People were walking out between cars, against the lights and in the middle of the street. As in most situations, the fault doesn't lie with just one group (the drivers in this case).

Aggressive drivers. They'll mow you down running a red light to get 50 feet farther, where they have to stop for the next red light.

General disregard for laws and absolutely no courtesy for pedestrians.

Does Wiley Norville own a car or lives in an area of town where you need to drive? Also Brian can you ever have anyone on to talk about motorists like the AAA for New York State.

On the suggestions for other places that need some extra safety precautions: There's a place on 23rd and lexington ave. I believe it is, where there's a point when the light turns read for cross 23rd street traffic except for one lane which apparently has a turn signal. And you know how most New Yorkers don't watch the crossing signs, but watch the light, so each and every time there are one or two who start walking and get surprised in the middle of the street when cars are still coming. Personally, I don't see the point of this extra turn signal- and I think would better serve pedestrians by being axed.

Where does swooping count in these stats? Forced auto accidents must sometimes injure both pedestrian and motorists.

20th St. and First Ave.
20th St. is a main thouroughfare for the access to and and egress from the FDR. The light on 20th St. is very short and as aresult, cars are constantly running the red light. In addition, there is an elementary and a middle school on 20th St. between 1st and 2nd and the 23rd St crosstown bus comes off of 2oth St. as well as many of the Brooklyn and Staten Island express buses. There have been deaths and major pedestrian accidents at this intersection, but nothing has changed.

We have a special problem in Harlem at the intersection of Madison Avenue and 135th Street because of the exit from the Harlem River Drive and the entry/exit from the Madison Avenue Bridge to and from the Bronx. All of the drivers are in "highway mode". Pedestrians crossing to the westside have six seconds to cross. Moreover the presence of traffic agents is a waste of City funds as they ignore the pedestrians, concentrate on vehicular traffic or rest in their van. Letters to the Commissioner have fallen on deaf ears for years.

Adams St./Brooklyn Bridge Blvd. and Fulton St./Joralemon St.

The traffic lights are all messed up. People drive really fast on Adams St. trying to get on the Brooklyn Bridge. We've seen a terrible accident at this crossing which a truck ran over a woman and killed her.
I've called 411 many times to fix and sync the lights!
This is a VERY busy intersection, taking in more than 5 or 6 bus lines, people leaving Bklyn, and a LOT of foot traffic brought by all the Gov. buildings and Fulton Mall

I have two locations, one of which has been notorious. My niece is a young teacher, in her second year. A few weeks ago one of her 10 year old students was killed crossing Woodhaven Boulevard at Rockaway Blvd.,Queens. The school is fighting for a crossing guard there now. The loss was devastating to her, her class and the school.
The second location is Flatbush Avenue and Avenue U in Marine Park. This is the street you must cross to reach Kings Plaza mall. I don't know how an older person can cross this street in the time allotted. I have to practically run across it to reach the other side in time.

One more thing, drivers need to be reminded that the pedestrian ALWAYS comes first!

Giant Reduce Speed signs coming off of the bridges would help. I have to cross Houston and Bowery and, at night, Christie, and the cars are usually still at highway speed---always so at night.

I was hit by a car on Empire Blvd and Flatbush. I am lucky and generally fine, however, I am still pretty frightened crossing these streets, as well as the intersection on Eastern Parkway and Washington Avenue. There is a large police presence around here, however the neighborhood acts as a highway and people are largely ignored. I might propose turn signals for cars, and street lights for pedestrians only.

I'd like the police get back to ticketing restaurant deliverymen who ride up the wrong side of the street and without lights or horns/bells on their bikes.

Remember when that elderly man was struck and killed by one of these bikes during the Giuliani administration?

I am frequently almost knocked down by them.

The corner of West End Avenue and 96 Street was once a quite intersection. Now -- and I'm not sure why, outside of the increased population on the UWS -- it's a madhouse in the mornings, noisy congested, and dangerous. The traffic coming off the West Side Highway has increased many times over in recent years. We have a school on the southwest corner and residential buildings on the other three corners. This intersection is a tragedy waiting to happen.

I've lived in Woodside for 10 years or so now and besides people blowing through stop signs and flying down the streets there is one corner that truly frightens me: Skillman Avenue and 51st St. I lived down the block from this crosswalk for 3 years and there were many times that I went down the street to the light to cross. There isn't a light for about 4 blocks on Skillman Avenue and it's going downhill. The 51st Street cross is somewhat blind (either driving or walking) due to the hill. Then there are all the double-parked cars (which is also a major problem in the area, where I often feel like we are on a slalom course instead of a roadway) which cause more blind spots.

A scary intersection for this pedestrian: Crossing Central Park West at 66th Street, where vehicles in the transverse often travel at speed, and rush out into the intersection to make the light, making left turns, right turns, and going straight.

Suggestion: give pedestrians a few seconds lead time before vehicles are permitted to move.

Better enforcement of traffic laws. I don't mean enforcement designed to increase revenue, nor do I mean cracking down on normal and necessary "aggressive" driving (you can drive aggressively but safely) but real enforcement of erratic, dangerous driving.

The most obvious example is drivers ignoring red lights. If you stand at any intersection for a half hour, you will see several instances of this. Years ago, you'd have to wait a week to see that many.

Also, on the other side, too many people looknig at their PDA's, iPods, cell phones and stepping off of curbs without as much as a glance at traffic. Some people are completely OBLIVIOUS to traffic nowadays, as if they are immortal.

Boerum place and Fulton in Brooklyn. The street lights do not give walkers enough time to cross and cars speed down this strip often honking at pedestrian to "GET OUT OF THE WAY!!"

What about inattentive pedestrians. Half these guys cross at the red, they are on cell phones or look like they are daydreaming.

I see it all the time when I drive into the city on the weekends. Especially near Lincoln Center near the 1 train stop and the Barnes and Nobles book store near the ABC building.

Cell phone use is illegal, right? You wouldn't know it walking anywhere in Brooklyn, where drivers (and I'm a driver myself) feel "entitled" to chat and text to their hearts content as they floor it on residential streets...please! I think the problem is attitude - and that affects driving. Studies have shown that cell phone use, even with hands-free, is WORSE than drunk driving.

I basically tell my son - Do not trust that anyone behind a wheel is paying any attention to you - ever! Always assume that they are distracted or more concerned with getting where they want to go as quickly as possible.

Sad that someone's schedule is more important than anyone's safety, but I truly believe that's what people think once they get behind the wheel.

I have been trying to alleviate the dire situation for several years concerning the dangers inherent int he pedestrian crossing on Atlantic Avenue .

It is impossible for pedestrians to cross Atlantic Avenue without being vulnerable to cars turning onto Atlantic from Washington Avenue (especially the cars turning left (coming south moving west)). Pedestrians attempt to cross, but they have to scurry across the street to avoid cars turning left onto Atlantic very quickly.

I have contacted the Mayor's Office numerous times and have merely been told that a study was performed by the DOT and the intersection was deemed safe which it isn't. This is not satisfactory because avoiding the turning cars requires athletic finesse and luck. There have been several times over the last few years I was almost run over. I see stroller pushing parents scream in terror as well as others.

Something needs to be done. A left turn signal needs to be installed immediately. Please investigate this dire situation. This is a life or death situation, and should not be ignored. I refuse to take a relaxed position any longer. My friends and community have been extremely supportive of your office, especially after your position concerning Atlantic Yards.

Please make a difference in a small way.

Thank you.

Myrtle and Broadway in Brooklyn. Myrtle, Broadway, and Jefferson St. intersect with pillars holding up the above ground J train - buses, commercial traffic, bad roads...it's crazy.

since they closed the on-ramp for the west side highway at riverside and 95th street, traffic now has to go to the intersection of 96th and west end ave. there is a school there- between the children crossing and the left turns that cars are making there the intersection is a mess (despite the presence crossing guards). they should reopen the on-ramp and lessen the congestion at the 96th street intersection.

I think more people would be saved if bicyclists would follow the traffic flow instead of going in the opposite direction.

I can't tell you how many times I see cyclists
who exhibit dangerous riding behaviors.

I've always thought 5th Avenue should be a dedicated pedestrian avenue.

Please add a 4-way stop @ Dyckman & Broadway! The entrance to the West Side Highway is at that intersection, and crossing on the west side of the street is particularly stressful. Cars speed down to the highway entrance, while disregarding the pedestrian walk sign. Treacherous!

17th and Broadway, at the northwest corner of Union Square, is always dicey for pedestrians, especially on days when the Greenmarket is crowded. It's a deceptively complex traffic pattern, so pedestrians always cross when they incorrectly think they have the right of way.

Brian, as a nearby resident, I am often both a pedestrian and a driver (of a scooter) in Chinatown.

I've noticed that in Chinatown, far more than other Manhattan neighborhoods, pedestrians disregard the crosswalks and the lights. Operators of two-ton machines are certainly responsible for their actions, but is there something we could do to help the pedestrians operate within the rules? Is this a function of bad street design or a cultural difference?

What about clearing pedestrian traffic in chinatown? When I walk on Canal street I walk IN THE STREET because the sidewalks are so congested with vendors and shoppers and tourists that here is no room to walk on the sidewalks.

Bollards are an excellent solution to dangers on narrow streets. In my native Amsterdam they are all over the place (they're called Amsterdammetjes...Little Amsterdammers)

I have written the DOT, council member and Mayor's office several times concerning the dangerous intersection that has cars turning onto Atlantic Avenue from Washington and does not allow pedestrians easy crossing. Pedestrians have to continually have to jump ut of the way.

The commissioner of the DOT states studies have been performed and the intersection is safe, but my neighbors disagree.

I have sent the following to several people and agencies:

It is impossible for pedestrians to cross Atlantic Avenue without being vulnerable to cars turning onto Atlantic from Washington Avenue (especially the cars turning left (coming south moving west)). Pedestrians attempt to cross, but they have to scurry across the street to avoid cars turning left onto Atlantic very quickly.

I have contacted the Mayor's Office numerous times and have merely been told that a study was performed by the DOT and the intersection was deemed safe which it isn't. This is not satisfactory because avoiding the turning cars requires athletic finesse and luck. There have been several times over the last few years I was almost run over. I see stroller pushing parents scream in terror as well as others.

Something needs to be done. A left turn signal needs to be installed immediately. Please investigate this dire situation. This is a life or death situation, and should not be ignored. I refuse to take a relaxed position any longer. My friends and community have been extremely supportive of your office, especially after your position concerning Atlantic Yards.

Please make a difference in a small way.

help!

The city needs to put cameras at all intersections NOT for revenue purposes - like a 50 dollar ticket that means nothing, but to weed out reckless CDL drivers - Ambulettes, TLC cars, Box Trucks. PUNISH THEM for reckless driving.

When you're in that area it's not just drivers it's crazy bicyclists who don't follow any rules of the road making them a hazard to pedestrians, drivers as well as other bicyclisits.

Flatbush Avenue and Fourth Avenue, near the Target store. The traffic cops ignore the part of the intersection that is most dangerous to pedestrians -- where the traffic from 4th Ave accelerates and turns left right across an intersection. I saw a woman's shopping cart sent flying one day. Cops are more interested in keeping the traffic moving -- they are waving cars forward into the pedestrian crossing, and have their backs to the people in danger.
Occasionally, I will pay $2 and go through the subway station underground to avoid having to cross that street. Or go blocks out of my way.

Near my apt, on grand st where there are a lot of fruit, veggie, and fish stalls, the sidewalks are so crowded that most pedestrians walk in the streets. Scary!

The average speeding ticket on Brooklyn's Ocean Parkway is 60 miles per hour, WAY over the speed limit. I'm a young healthy man and I don't like to cross there. Children & older people must hate it.

Eastern Parkway is a drag strip with mid-20th century traffic signalling. I watched a woman get hit by a car crossing EP just last week. Cars are regularly colliding at Washington Avenue and Eastern Parkway...and then there's Grand Army Plaza, which is taking you life in your own hands if you try to cross...completely pedestrian hostile.

The intersection of Seaman and 218 on Inwood, in northern Manhattan, is very dangerous. Drivers tend to go through the stop signs without stopping, and the danger to pedestrians, particularly during rush hour, when drivers are using Seaman as a way to bypass the H Hudson tolls, is very great.

Agree with Jason from Manhattan. In Boston the nickname for the bike lane was "Car Door Lane". Drivers would throw open doors knowing that cars weren't in the lane and not caring that bicyclists might be there.

There have been a number of horrific accidents there involving bicyclists thrown into traffic by idiots mindlessly throwing open the car door.

But here in New York, Bloomberg and Kelly treat bicyclists as de facto criminals to be shut down.

The city should restrict deliveries by trucks to only certain hours of the day.

here is a really scary intersection:

where the highway empties onto 31st st in astoria. it is really dangerous trying to cross this street....actually multiple streets.

yikes.

Queens, NY.
Northern Blvd is not the safest place to cross.

41st St. and Dyer Avenue (right behind Port Authority) - a few people have been killed and lots of close calls.

jay walkers. people don't cross with the lights
vendors selling (counterfeit) goods on canal street and other streets.

To elaborate on Justine's comment above, generalized lawlessness may be worse in certain neighborhoods but it really is citywide. People get away with really outrageous behavior in vehicles and I rarely see bad drivers being ticketed. I say this as a pedestrian and as a person who drives a lot. It's horrible.

In a town in NJ a couple of years ago a motor vehicle official was arrested for selling thousands of drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants.

In an area plagued with pedestrian deaths and general chaos around all intersections and schools -- I attribute lots of it to drivers who *literally* don't know how to drive.

There are many rules that educated drivers take for granted (signals? rights of way?) that are not known by a % of people behind the wheel on our streets and roads.

The only solution is stepped up law enforcement. Unfortunately, this is considered "unfriendly" by many local police chiefs, who tend to gloss over traffic as a minor, unglam area of policing.

Keeping bikes in the bike lane will help pedestrians, bicyclists, AND motorists.

But it is hard to use the bike lanes if the traffic cops don't enforce keeping them clear. Although it is not legal to have your car in the lane, 311 operators DO NOT EVEN HAVE A CATEGORY for taking these complaints... they have to take them as "double parking".

We need a special way of calling these issues in so we can get the lanes working.

I have to deal with Eastern Parkway and Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn at least twice a day, typically with young children. I have seen one bicyclist struck by a car and several accidents. A bicyclist was killed in Park Slope just a few weeks ago -- by a school bus.

Why won't Bloomberg and Kelly do something to _enforce existing laws_. Drivers ignore lights, turn roads into drag strips, never turn on headlights, never indicate turns, and treat pedestrians as a chance to play chicken -- a two ton chunk of steel versus a 150 pound human.

I have lived in Brooklyn's China town for 8 years and can attest to a certain level of lawlessness of the local drivers, especially the truck drivers and the private bus drivers. Is it a cultural thing? I don't know but I always look both ways before crossing the street.