A version of this column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated September 22, 2023
Although each instance is unique, forever changing the lives of a different family, the same story keeps repeating on a southern Brooklyn street: a pedestrian killed while simply trying to cross the street. Often, these incidents involve a child.
On Tuesday, September 12, just after 1 PM, a 66-year-old woman was struck and killed while pushing her 2-year-old granddaughter in a crosswalk. The driver of a large Dodge pickup truck was traveling along Bath Ave when he turned onto 25th Ave, hitting and killing the woman, while pinning the toddler and her stroller under the front of the oversized vehicle.
Video captured three men, including the driver, freeing the little girl, who was hysterically crying. She survived with minor injuries, but her grandmother died. A witness to the incident said that the driver “…appeared from nowhere, actually… He didn’t see [them]. He just smashed them through.”
This area has seen many deadly acts of traffic violence. Just a few years ago, a few blocks away from the September 12 fatality, four pedestrians were killed in four separate incidents within a few blocks of each other during a 16 month period.
May 1, 2019, 3-year-old Emur Shavkator was struck and killed by the driver of a large delivery van while on his scooter, crossing in the crosswalk with his mother at Benson Ave and Bay 25th Street. January 16, 2020, 67-year-old Deborah Mutell was crossing 86th Street by Bay Parkway, when she was killed by the driver of a private sanitation truck that struck her and fled the scene. February 23, 2020, near 19th Avenue and 86th Street, Jose Contla was killed by a hit-and-run driver. September 28,2020, 7-year-old Sama Ali was hit and killed by the driver of an armored truck while on her scooter, in the crosswalk with her mother at Bath Avenue and Bay 23rd Street.
There are ways we can make our streets safer and greatly reduce pedestrian injuries and deaths. There are remedies that have been proposed, that would make a meaningful impact, that are inexplicably being held up.
Senator Gounardes has been successful in passing multiple pieces of legislation that have improved safety. He has multiple other bills pending that would also have a positive impact.
On bill, would adjust registration fees for all vehicles, with higher fees for oversized vehicles and lower fees for smaller vehicles. Statistics have shown that larger vehicles make it harder to see pedestrians and increase the odds that a pedestrian who is struck will die. Pedestrians are 41 percent more likely to be killed by an SUV or pickup truck than by a sedan at the same speed.
Gounardes has another bill pending, which would require SUVs and pickup trucks display warning labels in the showroom, conveying to potential buyers the potential dangers these vehicles pose to pedestrians and cyclists.
Increased registration fees and warning labels will not end pedestrian fatalities, but they would make drivers think more about the size of vehicle they should drive. Like any complex issue, this epidemic of traffic violence can only be addressed through myriad solutions that attack the problem from multiple directions.
One of those is speeding. Despite griping from some drivers, school zone speed cameras have been shown to change driver’s behavior and reduce speeding. Recent data released by the city showed that speed camera violations dropped 30 percent across the city in the first year in which the law allowed cameras to issue tickets 24/7. It is a fact that they change behavior and reduce speeding, which is a crucial part of reducing pedestrian fatalities.
Pedestrians struck by a vehicle traveling 30 mph are about 70 percent more likely to be killed than if the vehicle had been traveling 25 mph. About 9 out of 10 pedestrians survive being hit by a vehicle traveling 20 mph, while about 9 out of 10 are killed when hit by a vehicle traveling 40 mph.
The fatality we just saw on Bath Avenue was within four blocks of three different school complexes, highlighting how important the school zone speed camera program is. The streets around our children’s schools, and the routes to and from them, are all too often the scenes of tragedies. All drivers, but particularly those of large vehicles, need to slow down and take care to be hyper-attentive when turning into crosswalks.
