This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated November 10, 2023
Thursday morning, October 26, 7-year-old Kamari Hughes was killed while crossing the street on the way to school in a crosswalk with the right of way when the driver of an NYPD tow truck struck and then ran over him, as per witness accounts. Reports from people at the scene in Fort Greene said his mother screamed, “You killed my baby!” Taqunda Hughes told a reporter she watched multiple sets of tires run over her son and she “had to see him be killed.”
The juxtaposition of other traffic violence-related news on this same day makes this totally avoidable tragedy even more gut-wrenching. On the same morning, 63-year-old crossing guard Krystyna Naprawa, was laid to rest, following her death six days earlier. While doing her job, shepherding children across the street near P.S. 60 in Queens, disturbing video shows a turning dump truck knocking Naprawa down and running her over with multiple tires, similar to how Kamari Hughes’ mother described his death from a large vehicle turning into the crosswalk he was in. That driver was ticketed for the same minor infractions as the driver that ran over Hughes.
Exactly one month before crossing guards lined the street at Naprawa’s funeral, another 63-year-old crossing guard was struck from behind by an SUV in Queens. Though seriously injured, she was expected to survive.
Also on the day of Kamari Hughes death, New York City’s Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program expired. When this program was originally proposed by then-Councilman Brad Lander three years ago, it called for drivers caught on camera speeding or running a red light five times within a year to have their car impounded. Mayor de Blasio forced the bill to be watered down to the version that passed, where drivers with 15 speed camera violations in a 12 month period would be required to take a 90-minute safety course.
This was the time to re-establish the program in a form closer to its original intention. However, when asked about it two days prior, Mayor Adams said he was not aware the law was expiring that week. Adams has also faced criticism of late for opposing traffic safety redesigns for several notoriously dangerous routes in the city.
Pedestrian safety organization, Transportation Alternatives Brooklyn, had just last year cited the intersection where Kamari Hughes died as being particularly dangerous and in need of safety redesigns. With at least 59 people injured at that location in the previous 12 years, they had called for leading pedestrian intervals and sidewalk extensions there, improvements that are proven to make it less likely pedestrians and drivers intersect in intersections and which may have prevented a child fatality.
On the day Kamari Hughes died in a crosswalk and crossing guard Krystyna Naprawa was buried and a program to hold recidivist dangerous drivers expired, Mayor Adams said, “Make no mistake, we will do whatever it takes to keep our streets safe.” Except what Adams has been doing (or not doing or preventing) is a series of grave mistakes that make our streets anything but safe.
The day after this confluence of tragic traffic safety developments, Adams informed 250 incoming New York City school safety agents that he was canceling their class and they would not be starting their training as part of his austerity cuts he has promised, which he has forewarned will be “painful.” At a time when far too many intersections near our schools are proving to be unsafe for both students and crossing guards, Adams is eliminating planned positions meant to ensure kids’ safety inside their schools.
While campaigning for mayor in 2021, Adams promised specific numbers of miles for new bus and bike lanes per year, of which he has fallen well short of. While addressing DOT employees on November 1, he seemed to abandon that pledge when he said, “My legacy is not how many bike miles I do. My legacy is not how many bus miles I do.”
There is no one simple solution that if enacted will eliminate all tragedies in our intersections, but like with any systemic problem, approaching the issue holistically and utilizing many tools to address it will make a positive difference. Unfortunately, Mayor Adams is taking us in the other direction at every turn.
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