BP Adams And CM Cornegy Call For Safe Streets For All Following Death Of Bicyclist Near Atlantic Terminal

Following the tragic death this Monday of a bicyclist by an out-of-control driver who also hit two cars before being stopped by metal bollards in front of the Atlantic Terminal entrance, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is calling for safe streets for all through more traffic mitigation and enforcement efforts by the Department of Transportation (DOT), as well as by law enforcement and day-to-day commuters.

“Vision Zero is not a slow zone; it’s a mandate so all can utilize the streets in a safe fashion,” Adams said at a press conference in the pedestrian plaza on 4th Avenue between Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues on Tuesday. “This is a plaza where people can walk and talk. If there are no safe streets, we will continue to see incidents like this, especially in this corridor.”

Adams also cited Tri-State Transportation Campaign data that counts this death as at least the third fatality at this specific location in the past three years.

“They’re doing a great job with the NYPD, DOT, and Vision Zero, but at the same time, there’s been a 60 percent increase in bicycle accidents and over 150 car crashes this year in this area alone,” he claimed. “That’s why I’m calling on the DOT to fast-track [any] changes [that are already in the pipeline]. Also, it only takes a minute to be distracted by a text or something else. Drive carefully. . . We don’t want the city filled with white ghost bikes.”

Councilmember Robert Cornegy echoed the sentiment, adding that the influx of new residents into Brooklyn are making use of all transportation options that the borough has to offer, whether buses, subways, cars, or bikes — no one method having more ownership of the streets than another.

“These need to be shared streets,” said Cornegy. “My wife and I ride our bikes here every day, and I have a reasonable expectation that she will come home safe. . . Everyone drive safely, travel safely, so we can all get home safely.”

For Fort Greene resident and dad Braden King, traveling safely has become more and more difficult over the years, especially in Brooklyn, where he said he “was surprised to feel less safe” riding a bicycle than when he is in Manhattan.

“I think people drive in a less predictable manner,” he said. “There seems to be a randomness to people making turns with no blinkers. I didn’t realize how much safer I felt riding in Manhattan.

“I honestly think the way people drive in this city is borderline sociopathic in terms of ‘me first’ and ‘screw you’ attitudes,” King added. “New York’s come a long way, but it’s one of the uglier parts of this city. If it can be improved, it would improve life drastically.”

King was one of thousands of people who came out to Tuesday night’s Vigil For Vision Zero at Union Square, organized by advocacy groups Transportation Alternatives and Families For Safe Streets (FSS) with the following message and mission:

Since January, 24,893 New Yorkers have been injured in traffic crashes; 123 have been killed. The victims of traffic violence are our parents, our children, our friends. On July 14, please stand with us to condemn this silent epidemic.Since January, 24,893 New Yorkers have been injured in traffic crashes; 123 have been killed. The victims of traffic violence are our parents, our children, our friends. Please stand with us to condemn this silent epidemic.

FSS founding member Amy Cohen, whose son Sammy Cohen Eckstein was killed by a car on Prospect Park West in 2013, explained that although the city has “mov[ed] quickly to enact key traffic safety legislation [and] we’re starting to see fatality rates come down, the numbers are still appallingly high: more than 23,000 people have been injured in New York City traffic so far this year, and we’ve lost more than 120 lives.

“Polls show that one in three New Yorkers has been hurt in a crash or knows someone who has been killed or seriously injured in traffic,” Cohen said in a statement. “This is a public health crisis, and we all need to come
together to say not one more.”