Did you know Rye was voted one of the safest cities in the U.S. for the second year in a row? In fact, it moved up from No. 19 to No. 13 on Safewise, which collects data on home and community safety.

Rye’s Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Committee was excited about the shout out to them from Safewise: “Besides great police work that cuts down on crime, Rye has a Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Committee to improve safety features in the community and educate the public to avoid accidents. Crime isn’t the only thing that endangers communities, so we’re glad to see Rye takes other public safety issues seriously, too.”

The Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Committee, meanwhile, wants to send a big thank-you to all the Rye citizens who came to them in 2017 to share their concerns and make suggestions on safety improvement..

The Committee meets the second Thursday of every month from September through June at 7:30 p.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room at City Hall. The public is welcome to attend and encouraged to email questions in advance of the meeting to either City Manager Marcus Serrano (manager@ryeny.gov) or member Suki van Dijk (sukivandijk@gmail.com).

Here are a few winter tips from the Committee to help keep our town at the top of the Safe Cities list:

*Homeowners are responsible for maintaining the sidewalks in front of their homes, and clearing it of snow within 24 hours of snowfall. This is especially crucial for everyone who lives on a walking path to any of the schools.

*Understand and obey crosswalk rules – pedestrians have the right-of- way in the crosswalk when not governed by a traffic light. Turning traffic must yield to pedestrians. A blinking red light is the same as a stop sign.

*When the days are dark so early, please slow down and be please aware of people walking or biking on our roads.