This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated March 12, 2020
I’m getting sick and tired of writing this column. Not this weekly column, in general — I greatly enjoy being able to tackle issues here each week — but, instead, the topic of this particular column, because it has been the subject I have written about more than any other this past year.
In January, I wrote about 67-year-old Deborah Mutell, who was crossing 86th Street by Bay Parkway when a private sanitation truck struck and killed her, before fleeing the scene. Deborah was one of three pedestrians killed in Brooklyn in a 24-hour period.
In May of last year, I wrote about three-year-old Emur Shavkator, who was killed by a truck in front of his mother, while on his scooter in a crosswalk in Bath Beach. Three days after he was killed, as I was beginning that column, I paused to travel to the corner of Benson Avenue and Bay 25th Street to attend a vigil in the rain for Emur. Two days later, I finished writing that column from the steps of City Hall, during a rally held by street safety advocates, many of them people who have lost loved ones to traffic accidents.
Throughout this past year I have also written about cyclists killed on city streets, cited numbers showing the disturbing increase in traffic fatalities the last two years, and discussed the need for further actions to help make our streets safer for all who use them.
Late last month, Jose Contla was killed by a hit-and-run driver while crossing the street near 19th Avenue and 86th Street. He was one of six pedestrians, including two Brooklyn children, killed in a five-day span.
Unfortunately, on March 5, another name was added to this list. While out walking his dog, Frank Decolvenaere was struck by a vehicle at Fourth Avenue and 101st Street in Bay Ridge, where he died. The 19-year-old driver of the Mercedes Benz that hit him, remained at the scene.
Police released a statement rather quickly that a preliminary investigation had determined that the deceased had been crossing against the pedestrian traffic signal. There was no mention in their statement as to whether speed played any role in the accident or the outcome.
” People are not radar guns, but multiple eyewitnesses estimating that the vehicle was traveling at a speed more than twice the legal limit casts a great deal of doubt on any contention it was traveling at or below 25 miles per hour. “
Several media outlets reported that witnesses said the driver was speeding. PIX11 news spoke to multiple witnesses who stated that “the driver had the green light but appeared to be traveling more than 50 miles per hour when the car hit the pedestrian.”
People are not radar guns, but multiple eyewitnesses estimating that the vehicle was traveling at a speed more than twice the legal limit casts a great deal of doubt on any contention it was traveling at or below 25 miles per hour.
Pedestrians struck by a vehicle traveling at 30 mph are about 70 percent more likely to be killed than if the vehicle had been traveling at 25 mph. About 9 out of 10 pedestrians survive being hit by a vehicle traveling at 20 mph, while about 9 out of 10 are killed when hit by a vehicle traveling at 40 mph.
We don’t know all of the details of the tragedy that took Frank’s life, but we do know that speed kills. If the preliminary NYPD assessment that he stepped into the crosswalk against the pedestrian signal is confirmed, it doesn’t change the reality that his wife should almost certainly be making a trip to see him in the hospital now, not making his funeral arrangements.
The Mercedes Benz involved in the crash received four camera-issued speeding tickets in just over two months last year.
Streetsblog filed a report after finding the car outside the 68th precinct. Photos revealed extensive damage to the front end, hood and windshield, which was completely smashed in on the passenger side. The damage to the car an expert said is consistent with a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed and, possibly, as fast as the 50+ mph multiple eyewitnesses had estimated.
I really cannot wait for the day I stop writing this column, this particular column that I write far too often, when I cover another member of the community who has been killed by a car on our streets.
