A Plea for Help for Pedestrians Trying to Cross the Saw Mill Parkway

By Michael Gold

Cars, SUVs and trucks hurl themselves down the Saw Mill Parkway like demented bowling balls hopped up on amphetamines, blowing past pedestrians so quickly it can shock the breath out of you.

People trying to walk across the parkway do so at great peril. The pedestrian/parkway interface is a real-life horror movie for walkers.

On a recent school day, I was waiting to cross the parkway with my daughter. I have worked out a strategy to protect her. I always place her on my left, so drivers aching to ignore the law to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk when they turn from Grant Street in Pleasantville onto the northbound Saw Mill Parkway will see me instead of her. I’m a bigger target and I can usually get drivers to pay attention when I look straight at them.

This strategy worked until it didn’t. We got the white walk sign and were about to cross the road when a car came roaring at us from the southbound lane, nearest to us, flying through the red light. The car came within a few feet of hitting my child.

Luckily for us, we both froze at the last moment and let the car break the law without breaking anyone’s body parts. If we had entered the crosswalk sooner, she would have been struck.

On any given day, during rush hour, also time to go to school, southbound cars often make illegal right-hand turns onto Grant Street, meaning there is an additional way parents and kids may get hit trying to cross.

I have talked to the school crossing guard at Grant Street on many occasions. He has told me of the casually dangerous traffic. Drivers speed through the lights, make illegal turns and often ignore the pedestrians in their way.

“The drivers are terrible,” the crossing guard told me. “They’re constantly running lights.”

He’s worried someone is going to get killed.

The most obvious and satisfying solution to deter dangerous drivers is to install a traffic camera on the Grant Street light. Then, we need to put up a sign that warns drivers, “Running through a red light is illegal. Making a turn here is illegal. You will be fined (insert appropriate dollar amount here) if you break the law.”

A far more effective, yet expensive solution would be to build a pedestrian bridge over the parkway. New York City has installed these bridges all over the boroughs. There were two just in my old Bronx neighborhood alone, over the Henry Hudson Parkway.

A bridge would probably cost millions, so I’m betting this is a non-starter for officials.

I have exchanged e-mails concerning the issue with County Legislator Margaret Cunzio and her legislative aide, the Westchester County Police’s Real Time Crime Center and Pleasantville Mayor Pete Scherer. State Sen. Peter Harckham’s office called me, and we spoke about the problem. I have also discussed the situation with the Pleasantville Pedestrian Committee.

Everybody has listened. Everybody understands what’s going on. But we all need to do more. This situation is literally an accident waiting to happen.

My daughter came up with a great solution – and the cheapest. Ask a Pleasantville police officer to patrol the crosswalk in the hour before school starts and the hour after it ends.

I understand that the parkway comes under county jurisdiction. Isn’t it possible that the county and the village can come up with an agreement to allow a Pleasantville police officer to help keep the crossing safe?

The current arrangement relies on the kindness and courtesy of drivers. So far, they’ve proven themselves sorely lacking in both departments. What they have also proven is that they’re in a great rush to get to work. This is understandable. It’s also dangerous.

With the great power allotted to them by the gift of thousands of pounds of a lightning-fast steel machine, drivers need a greater sense of empathy for the flesh and blood humans in their midst. A traffic camera, stiff penalties for violations and stronger signage can help them grow the empathy required for the job. Short of that, a police officer on patrol at the crosswalk would accomplish the same thing.

Pleasantville village officials, county police and our local and state lawmakers, citizens are looking to you to please help make it safer to cross the parkway before someone gets hurt.

Demented bowling balls belong in an alley, not near a major pedestrian crossing.

Pleasantville resident Michael Gold has had op-ed articles published in the New York Daily News, the Albany Times Union, The Virginian-Pilot and other newspapers.