After a string of tragic traffic fatalities, a community board in Queens, New York, endorsed a call in June for city officials to make all intersections more visible to road users, particularly the most vulnerable. Then, in October, a board’s transportation committee in Brooklyn did the same. In the weeks since, full boards in Brooklyn and Queens joined the pack. Several boards in Manhattan are considering it as well.

The non-binding resolution is noticeably rare for community boards. Historically, the citizen-led bodies — which play an advisory role but are often looked to as local gauges of support — have been slow to support safety-minded street redesigns, favoring car parking over measures like bike lanes or road diets. But recently, things have changed, said Paul Kelterborn, an author of the resolution in Brooklyn’s Community Board 1, which represents Greenpoint and Williamsburg.