Responding to tragedy
Earlier this year, 14 preschool children in my neighborhood were struck by a delivery van that jumped the curb while they were walking along a sidewalk with their teachers. Two children, Hayley Ng, 4, and Diego Martinez, 3, lost their lives that day. The twelve others were rushed to the hospital for evaluation --my friends’ son was one of them.
In the few short months since the horrible tragedy, my friends – Jane Beck and Craig Winkelman of the creative firm rayogram – have built something extraordinary out of their grief and all of the accompanying emotions…
Share the Streets is a coalition of residents and businesses in downtown Manhattan that is poised to create change around pedestrian and cyclist safety. Their message is a simple one. Accidents like this are preventable, and if we make our streets safe for the youngest members of our community, we will make them safe for everyone.
SharetheStreets.org uses smart communications tactics, including:
o well-illustrated statistics about street safety that are easy to absorb
o a place to upload photos of ongoing street hazards in the neighborhood
o a list of actions you can take broken down by if you have 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 5 minutes, 10 minutes or longer to spare
o a pledge for residents and businesses to sign
o a Google map of the neighborhood which will eventually tag all of the businesses that have signed the pledge
I’ve also been impressed by Share the Street’s ability to quickly rally other organizations (such as Transportation Alternatives and Asthma Free School Zone), as well as the local community board and NY politicians.
Nothing will ever erase the pain of the accident for all those involved. But there can be no doubt that Share the Streets will do all it can to ensure that a tragedy like this will never happen again.
