It’s a Jungle Out There, Auto Club Finds in Manhattan Traffic Survey

What many ordinary New Yorkers have long suspected is now official.

The Automobile Club of New York charged Friday that “anarchy” rules on some Manhattan streets. A survey by the club of six busy mid-town intersections showed drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists broke traffic laws an average of 274 times an hour on each street corner.

The survey disclosed that on the average at least one and often two cars ran the red light before it changed each time at each intersection. Pedestrians jaywalked with abandon, motorists blocked crosswalks and bicyclists regularly rode in the wrong direction.

‘Safer in the Jungle’

“I’ve never been in a jungle myself, but it’s possible it’s safer in the jungle than crossing some Manhattan streets,” said Bob Lavner, an auto club spokesman.

Richard Newhouse, the auto club’s traffic engineer, charged that “widespread discourtesy” has replaced “traditional rules-of-the-road etiquette.”

“Without question, we have real cause to be worried,” Newhouse continued. “Many New Yorkers seem to feel they can ignore red lights, jaywalk, violate bicycle regulations and so on with impunity.”

Auto club officials believe the trouble is caused by a number of factors:

--An increase in building construction that clogs streets with equipment.

More Double-Parked Cars

--Greater numbers of double-parked vehicles.

--The presence of more buses.

--Street excavations that are not monitored.

--Too few traffic control agents to ensure order at intersections.

“An observer would see that the traffic control agents are busy ticketing parked cars,” Lavner said. “We think the urgent need for them is at bad intersections where cars commonly run red lights and ignore the traditional pedestrian right of way, and where pedestrians jaywalk to the extreme. The general tenor of the times is traffic violations are just part of the game, and it is a dangerous game.”

The club made the survey after receiving many complaints from its more than 800,000 members. It sent its staff members to monitor six busy mid-Manhattan intersections for two days. They reported that an average of 100 violations by motorists, 160 by pedestrians and 14 by bike riders occurred at each intersection every hour.

Eight Near-Accidents

At one busy intersection--42nd Street and 8th Avenue--the observers witnessed eight near-accidents involving people crossing the street--mostly illegally in the middle of the block.

“Going through a red light seems to be more fashionable,” Lavner said. “Drivers decide for themselves the light doesn’t work or it doesn’t turn when they are ready to move. If the driver is turning, the pedestrian had better watch out.”

The club called for stricter enforcement of traffic regulations.

“You have to recognize it’s a very fine line between a pedestrian bring injured and being killed,” Newhouse said. “What causes someone to go from an injury to a fatality is often just a number of inches. If you stand on a corner for a few minutes and watch, it’s frightening.”

Police in 1986 reported that 271 pedestrians and 264 people riding in cars were killed in motor vehicle accidents in New York City.