This should not be as daunting as it may seem since the cause of the tragedies are most often mistakes and errors of judgment in controlling and dealing with transport machines with the solutions residing in additional automatic machine levels of control.

A trivial solution preventing crashes of trains going in opposite directions is to have the trains on completely separate noncrossing tracks. To prevent these trains from hitting people or automotive vehicles, trivial solutions would include fences and barriers preventing cars, trucks, cyclists, and pedestrians from crossing train tracks. It should be obvious that similar interventions can make urban environments extremely safe.

The real difficulty lies in getting people to concentrate on this problem and deal with it as the extremely critical life-and-death issue that it is by focusing on the ongoing horrific heartbreaking death and destruction caused by not dealing with it head-on and employing the relatively simple solutions that can eliminate it.

More moving violations = Higher insurance rates for the worst drivers and much more suspensions.

And if they kill or injure someone, the police can take all of that into account.

It's a win-win-win for public safety. Protected groups that never get tickets will drive more safely off-duty. Bad Drivers will pay for their misbahavior. More money for livable street improvements that increase safety.

Asking traffic cops to be more aware of people on the street is fruitless. They shrug their shoulders and say it's a person's own responsibility to protect themselves. I had an cop tell me that two weeks after a man was killed on Adams and Tillary St right in front of him. This is an issue at many bridge and tunnel entrances around the city.

Going further, all New York City drivers, resident or not should be forced to take driver-safety courses for driving in the world's densest urban population.

This might seem extreme but it would save lives. It would also increase quality of life and tourist income.

As a life-and-death issue extreme focus on prevention -- and extreme preventive interventions -- will eliminate these tragedies.

Even further, more forward thinking would be to not wait for tragedies to happen but put in place extreme preventive measures in dangerous situations in advance; regrettably (being currently ubiquitous), in all locations where pedestrians and cyclists are proximate to trucks and automobiles.

I take it upon myself to calm the savages. Since motorists may never learn that rushing to save a couple of seconds does little good and puts human lives at risk, when I'm on my bike, I use my physical presence to calm the @#$%ers down.

The other day some jackass parent let two tiny girls who looked about three years old shoot out from behind a parked car to run across Lexington Avenue. Yes, they had the light. But what if this fucker driver had been trying to make that light?

That experience pretty much validated for me the obnoxiously assertive way I ride. If the driver right behind me at that moment was an aggressive one like the one in the story, my presence might have saved these kids' lives.

Is this a little self-righteous? Yeah, it is.

Here's a thought: Although authorization from Albany is required to mount a red-light camera for automated traffic enforcement, why doesn't DoT just go ahead and mount cameras at these dangerous intersections with signs telling people to use due care and yield to pedestrians? NYPD is putting surveillance cams up all over Manhattan and other boroughs. DoT also maintains its own network of traffic cams up so motorists can check real-time traffic conditions at selected spots prone to congestion. Why not put up a few cams for the benefit and safety of pedestrians, the majority transportation mode? While I doubt the cameras alone would convince many motorists to be more cautious, the recordings could be used in subsequent civil litigtion and by DoT to study the problems and design solutions for dangerous intersections.

I care about civil liberties and am concerned about all the government and private surveillance cameras, but we are already at the point of blanket coverage in most of Manhattan south of 96th Street. A few more for this purpose wouldn't hurt.

Drivers are crazy on that stretch of Adams leading to and away from the Brooklyn Bridge. It's downright stupid to start crossing a high-traffic street before you have your walk signal (which was probably the case if the truck's signal was at or just after yellow) without looking for oncoming traffic. Any eight-year-old can tell you that you should LOOK before crossing. Use some common sense, people.