The Kingston Common Council is urging state lawmakers to pass a package of legislation aimed at reducing traffic deaths and protecting cyclists and pedestrians.

On Tuesday, the council voted unanimously to pass a memorializing resolution endorsing the Crash Victims Rights and Safety Act.

The initiative pushed by traffic safety advocates is a package of seven separate bills intended to promote the development of safer streetscapes, address speeding on city streets and give crash victims and their loved ones the right to be heard in cases involving traffic injuries or deaths. One bill would give municipalities across the state the ability to set speed limits below the state minimum of 30 mph. Others provide additional funding and other incentives to build and maintain streets in accordance with the state Department of Transportation’s Complete Streets program which seeks to redesign streetscapes to place pedestrians and cyclists on a more even footing with motorists. Other elements of the legislation include incorporating bike and pedestrian awareness into the state’s pre-licensing driver’s education curriculum, and requiring drivers to give cyclists and least three feet of leeway when passing.

The effort comes as communities nationwide experience major increases in traffic deaths. In New York, traffic fatalities rose 19 percent in the first half of 2021 compared with the same period in 2019. In New York City, traffic deaths shot up 35 percent compared with 2018. Nationwide, deaths involving motor vehicles have risen to levels not seen since the 1940s after decades of steady decline beginning in the 1960s. Experts attribute the rising death toll to an increase in aggressive driving since the pandemic and new pickup truck and SUV designs that emphasize size and ever-higher front ends — a design feature that significantly increases the likelihood that a collision with a pedestrian of cyclist will result in death.

The memorializing resolution passed this week is part of a statewide lobbying initiative. In Kingston, Rose Quinn took a lead role in urging lawmakers to sign on to effort. Quinn is a bike safety instructor and former chair of local cycling advocacy organization Bike Friendly Kingston. Quinn was also the partner of John “Host” Lynch, who died in August 2021 after he was struck by a car while

cycling across Washington Avenue. Lynch, a lifelong cyclist who at age 57 had never held a driver’s license, was one of three cyclists killed on city streets in the past two years.

On Tuesday, Quinn addressed the council and called for a major rethinking of how the state deals with what she terms “traffic violence.”

“The driver who killed John was not given an impairment test, was not issued any tickets and in fact no real investigation was done,” said Quinn. “I’d like to tell you that’s unusual, but it’s not, because when you kill somebody with your car, it is a traffic offense and we need to change that.”

In recent years, the city has taken a number of steps to improve traffic safety including incorporating Complete Streets design standards into new street construction projects and developing a Bike and Pedestrian Safety Master Plan to guide future efforts. Alderman Rennie Scott-Childress (D-Ward 3), who saw his effort to lower the city’s speed limit from 30 to 25 thwarted by state law, said passage of the state legislation was needed to empower communities to do more to ensure safe streets.

“If we can reduce the speed limit, we can save lots of lives and lots of damage, as well as the peace of people who want to have a nice street where they can walk where there are no sidewalks,” said Scott-Childress.