Streetsblog New York City

A pedestrian and a cyclist are dead after a series of crashes in Brooklyn and the Bronx in which motorists also injured five other people. Three of the victims were teenagers. One crash left two young boys in critical condition. No charges are known to have been filed by NYPD or DAs Charles Hynes and Robert Johnson.

On Friday afternoon, 16-year-old Zuleimi Torres was one of three people struck by the driver of an SUV on the Grand Concourse near Mt. Eden Parkway. From NY1:

Eyewitnesses said the car was going erratically down Grand Concourse, hit one pedestrian and then kept going and hit the other two pedestrians.

“He didn’t stop, he hit the first person, he did not stop. He just keep going and then we see the second one again got hit. We said, ‘Oh!’” a bystander said.

An off-duty officer arrested the driver as he tried to leave the car, but a breathalyzer test showed that the driver had no blood alcohol content.

Torres suffered a brain injury and died at St. Barnabas Hospital. Her friend, also 16, and the third victim, a 51-year-old woman, were hospitalized in stable condition.

Citing anonymous police sources, the Post reports that the driver “is not suspected of a crime,” and a “medical condition may have contributed” to the crash. ”Sources say the driver has a mental condition,” according to News 12. “Investigators say the driver will not face charges.”

In another crash early Sunday, an unidentified cyclist was killed by a livery cab driver in Crown Heights. From the Post:

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A quick note about the new bike corral on Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights, which got a vote of approval from the local community board after hundreds of signatures were gathered in support of it. The Prospect Heights Patch reports that two local residents see the on-street bike parking as a symbol of gentrification and have started a petition to get rid of it. If you take a look at the numbers for car ownership and bike ownership, though, it seems pretty clear that more people are going to get some use out of this space as a bike corral than as car parking space, whether you’re talking about long-time residents or newer ones.

According to the 2000 Census, the car ownership rate in this City Council district is just 33 percent [PDF], far below the citywide rate of about 46 percent. While the neighborhood may be different today than it was in 2000, these car ownership rates haven’t changed much. (Nearby Assembly districts saw car ownership increase between 2 and 3 percentage points in the 2005-2009 Census numbers.)

Meanwhile, the citywide household bike ownership rate is 54 percent, according to a recent New York Times poll. It’s probably safe to assume that bike ownership is higher in this part of the city, given the low car ownership rate, but let’s say it’s the same as the citywide rate.

That would mean 54 percent of the households in the neighborhood now have access to eight parking spaces by the curb here, while before, about a third of households had access to one parking space. On top of that, everyone now has sidewalks that are a little less cluttered.

The first Select Bus Service route in Brooklyn is on track to start speeding bus trips next year, after Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and NYC Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan announced yesterday afternoon that the project has secured a $28 million federal grant.

The B44 route on Nostrand, Rogers, and Bedford Avenues, which runs between Sheepshead Bay and Williamsburg, is one of NYC’s most used but least reliable bus lines. Plagued by bus bunching, the B44 took home the Straphangers Campaign’s “Schleppie Award” in 2009 and consistently ranks as Brooklyn’s most unreliable route. After it’s converted to Select Bus Service, the B44 will feature off-board fare collection, dedicated bus lanes along most of the corridor, and 12 bus bulbs to improve speeds and cut down on the amount of time buses spend standing still.

The B44 links Brooklyn residents to Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn College, Kings County Hospital, and SUNY Downstate Hospital, as well as several subway lines. Weekday ridership currently stands at about 44,000 passengers. Not only will they see faster, more reliable service, but the improvements should attract more riders. Following SBS upgrades in Manhattan and the Bronx, more passengers started riding those routes, cutting against a citywide trend of declining bus ridership.

“I think everyone who saw Sandy from near or afar recognized the critical role buses played once the subway system went down, underscoring the value of these types of investments in our transportation infrastructure,” Sadik-Khan said in a press statement. “SBS continues to bring enhanced service to densely populated areas in need of transportation enhancements.”

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At approximately 1:30 this afternoon, a van driver struck an unidentified man at the intersection of Nostrand Avenue and St. Marks Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Reader David Sessions was in a nearby bodega when the crash occurred. “An FDNY ambulance was parked on the block, so they were immediately on the scene,” he writes. “There was no blood that I could see, and the guy started moving after a few minutes – he resisted slightly when the medics were strapping him to the board.” FDNY reports receiving a call at 1:36 p.m., and transporting the victim to St. John’s Hospital. His condition is unknown. The driver remained on the scene.

The cyclist killed Tuesday by a truck driver on Bedford Avenue has been identified by NYPD as Emma Blumstein, 24.

Based on NYPD’s description of the crash, Blumstein was the victim of a left cross. According to police, Blumstein was traveling south on Bedford, while the driver was northbound on Bedford and turning left onto Empire Boulevard. Bedford Avenue has bike lanes in both directions at this location.

The crash occurred at approximately 11:27 yesterday morning. From CrownHeights.info:

The driver, who was visibly shaken, told CrownHeights.info that “she was just coming so fast and I was already into the turn; I just could not stop”.

The victim was run over by both the front and rear tires of the truck, and was pronounced dead at the scene by Hatzolah.

Photos from CrownHeights.info show NYPD crash investigators at the scene. “No criminality is suspected,” according to NYPD.

This fatal crash occurred in the 71st Precinct. To voice your concerns about neighborhood traffic safety directly to Deputy Inspector John Lewis, the commanding officer, go to the next precinct community council meeting. The 71st Precinct council meetings happen at 7:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at M.S. 61, 400 Empire Boulevard. Call the precinct at 718-735-0527 for information.

The City Council district where Emma Blumstein was killed is represented by Mathieu Eugene. To encourage Eugene to take action to improve street safety in his district and citywide, contact him at 212-788-7352, mathieu.eugene@council.nyc.gov or @MathieuEugene.

A 20-year-old man was struck and killed on Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights on Monday.

The victim was crossing the street near Schenectady Avenue at approximately 8:40 a.m. when he was hit by the driver of a westbound Ford van, according to NYPD and published reports. He was taken to Kings County Hospital, where he died.

Police are withholding the name of the victim pending notification of relatives. The driver remained at the scene. An NYPD spokesperson told Streetsblog there is “no criminality at this time.”

Two blocks east from the site of Monday’s crash, Jusheem Thorne was killed by two hit-and-run drivers in March. Last November, 87-year-old Theauther Love was fatally struck on Eastern Parkway near Bergen Street in Brownsville by a traffic enforcement agent driving a marked NYPD vehicle. Between 1995 and 2009, there were 32 pedestrian fatalities on Eastern Parkway, according to Transportation Alternatives’ CrashStat.

This fatal crash occurred in the 77th Precinct. To voice your concerns about traffic safety directly to Deputy Inspector Elvio Capocci, the commanding officer, go to the next precinct community council meeting. The 77th community council meets at 7:30 p.m. every second Monday at 127 Utica Avenue. Call the precinct at 718-735-0634 for more information.

A 25-year-old man was brutally killed by two hit-and-run drivers in Crown Heights early Wednesday.

According to reports, Jusheem Thorne was riding his skateboard in the crosswalk on Rochester Avenue at Eastern Parkway when he was hit by the driver of a maroon Mercury minivan racing to beat the light. As he lay injured in the street, he was run over by the driver of a white Acura. Neither driver stopped. The Daily News spoke with a witness who watched the massacre unfold:

Tyrone said the driver barely slowed down and fled westbound in the local lane of Eastern Parkway, toward Utica Ave. He said it was only moments later that the man was struck a second time as he lay in the middle of Eastern Parkway.

“I was about to chase the van so I could see the plates and then here comes another car, a white Acura, and it rolled over him and just kept on going,” he said. Tyrone said the Acura was heading east and had a green light.

Tyrone said the man appeared to be hurt but conscious after being slammed by the minivan, but the second impact left him lifeless.

“He was moving at first, but when the second car rolled over him, he stopped moving. He was completely still,” he said.

The savagery of these crimes is chilling. In a civil society, where having a foot on the gas pedal is not by default considered a mitigating circumstance, the Acura driver at least would be subject to a second-degree murder charge and a lengthy prison term. But this is New York, where judges coddle criminals who kill in the act of fleeing police and prosecutors seek leniency for hit-and-run drivers who cop to manslaughter. At this point there can be no testing for intoxication — not that they couldn’t have avoided a DWI charge regardless. As for leaving the scene, a simple “I didn’t see him” usually does the trick.

The sad fact is that, assuming either of these killers are caught, they are likely to receive little to no jail time, and may reasonably be expected to retain their driving privileges.

Jusheem Thorne was killed on the border of the 71st and 77th Precincts. To voice your concerns about traffic safety directly to Inspector Peter Simonetti or Deputy Inspector Elvio Capocci, the precincts’ respective commanding officers, head to their next precinct community council meeting. The 71st Precinct council meetings happen at 7:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at MS 61, located at 400 Empire Boulevard. The 77th council meets at 7:30 p.m. every second Monday at 127 Utica Avenue.

It looks like DOT is exercising its option to stripe a bike lane on Washington Avenue, imposing some order on street markings from Eastern Parkway to Atlantic Avenue. Previously it wasn’t really clear whether this part of Washington was one traffic lane or two traffic lanes in each direction, leading to a lot of double-parking, dodging, weaving and speeding. Now it’s official: Washington Avenue is one lane in each direction with left-turn bays and a marked bike route (some of which is sharrows). I could be wrong, but this bike lane might be NYC’s first new route in 2011, which is shaping up to be a slower year for bike network expansion compared to the previous three years.

The bike route was described as “optional” in DOT’s presentation on the project, which Brooklyn Community Board 8 approved in April. The safety improvements on Washington include new pedestrian infrastructure for the five-point intersections at Atlantic Avenue and at Park Place. Local residents, led by architect Jeff Sherman, had gathered hundreds of signatures asking for pedestrian improvements at Atlantic.

The expanded sidewalks at the intersection of Washington, Park, and Grand Avenue will, one hopes, permanently discourage police from depositing their vehicles in the pedestrian right of way. (Full disclosure: I cross this intersection just about every day.) Crews have been carving up the asphalt there for the past two days, holding the sidewalk parkers at bay for the time being, at least at the corner marked off with construction barrels.

Union Street in Brooklyn has a problem: The queue of cars waiting to drive through the intersection at Grand Army Plaza sometimes stretches as far as the eye can see. The bottleneck, which causes a lot of horn-honking, crosswalk-blocking, and other hazards, is intimately connected to another problem: Grand Army Plaza is a spinning vortex of traffic draining the life from what should be Brooklyn's premier public space.

At a CB6 committee meeting last month, DOT's Ryan Russo presented plans to alleviate the Union Street tie-up by converting the parking lane between Eighth Avenue and Grand Army Plaza into a moving lane. For advocates of a lively, welcoming, and safe Grand Army Plaza, the proposal encapsulated the shortcomings of DOT's approach to the area: By trying to solve the traffic problem on Union Street, the agency would do nothing to address the public space problems at the plaza, and may end up exacerbating them.

The city has recently made some headway improving Grand Army Plaza for pedestrians and cyclists. New pedestrian islands and a short, separated bikeway connecting the Prospect Park loop to Plaza Street have enhanced safety. More is on the way. A two-way protected bike path is slated for Prospect Park West, and a long-awaited median expansion on Eastern Parkway leading straight to the plaza should, someday soon, improve walking and biking from Crown Heights.

Adding another lane of moving vehicles on Union doesn't seem to fit with these incremental improvements, especially when an alternative that would simplify traffic patterns -- converting the westbound travel lane to a second eastbound lane -- has already surfaced at public meetings. "There are so many better solutions," said Robert Witherwax of the Grand Army Plaza Coalition.

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These days, it's not often that we get to report about New York City community boards pushing DOT for more progressive street designs. So sit back and enjoy this post. If you read Streetsblog regularly, it'll blow your mind.

Back in April, DOT met with members of Brooklyn Community Board 9, which covers parts of Crown Heights and Flatbush, about a traffic calming project for Empire Boulevard. At the time, the project did not include a bike lane.

I asked district manager Pearl Miles about that meeting. "We said, 'How about a bike lane?'" she recalls. "Our community is largely residential, so we want it to be safe."

When DOT came back in May for a presentation to the full board [PDF], the project -- now sporting a bike lane -- passed in a resounding 38-2 vote.

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