STOP THE AGONY
Vics’ kin tour fatal street, urge pols to act
Relatives of New Yorkers killed by drivers implored city officials to act faster to make streets safe, while they toured a redesigned Ninth St. where two children were killed this year.
The city, under its Vision Zero safe streets program, added a milelong protected bike lane, shorter crossings and slow-turn treatments to Ninth St. from Prospect Park West to Third Ave. Loading regulations were tweaked to cut down on people who double park.
City officials and relatives of people who were killed on city streets toured the new design of Ninth St., where driver Dorothy Bruns fatally ran over 1-year-old Joshua Lew and 4-year-old Abigail Blumenstein while blacked out behind the wheel.
Bruns, 44, faces manslaughter charges for the March crash, with the Brooklyn district attorney accusing her of ignoring doctor’s warning to stay off the road because of her poor health and history with seizures.
Amy Cohen from Families for Safe Streets, whose son Sammy Cohen-Eckstein, 12, was killed by a driver a few blocks from the news conference, said these safety changes must be made citywide.
“The paint that went down here today, the lines that we’ve drawn on the street, they shouldn’t happen only after two toddlers die,” Cohen said.
Jane Martin-Lavaud, 59, whose 24-year-old daughter Leonora Lavaud was fatally struck by a reckless driver in Gravesend, Brooklyn, in 2013, chided the city for the pace at which it’s putting in these safety changes.
“We’re waiting too long, this is not a new issue,” she said. “For us, it’s too late — but for everyone else, we need to take action and we need to stop waiting until after something happens.”
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and City Councilman Brad Lander walked with the safe streets advocates to see the changes.
“There’s something beautiful in what’s being done here together, but it doesn’t make it less heavy,” Lander said.
The children’s deaths “punched our whole city in the gut,” Lander added.
Mayor de Blasio, who did not attend, said in a statement that the city is continuing its goal toward “zero” traffic fatalities.
“We cannot undo that terrible afternoon five months ago, but these safety improvements will help prevent future tragic crashes on this busy street,” de Blasio said in the statement.