Car Accident on Ave Y

This past Sunday, March 15, 2009 at about 1 p.m., there was a car accident on Avenue Y between East 21 St and Ocean Avenue.

Thanks to an alert Sheepshead Bites reader, we have these pictures. The reader did not witness the accident or speak to any witnesses, but suspects that one of the two scenarios occurred:

1) The Honda CR-V had a flat tire and lost control. The Toyota RAV4 followed too close behind and hit it first pushing it off to the sidewalk. The Volvo behind the RAV4 also couldn’t stop on time and pushed the Honda CR-V even more to the sidewalk.

2) The Honda CR-V was already parked on the street. The Toyota RAV4 lost control and hit the back of the Honda CR-V pushing it to the sidewalk. The Volvo followed too close and hit the Honda CR-V as well.

FDNY EMT arrived within minutes and there seemed to be no injury because they left pretty quickly. However, the police from 61 PCT did not arrive almost an hour later.

The intersection at Ave Y and East 21st St had another accident just weeks ago, but it is still not as dangerous as the intersection at Ocean Ave and Ave Y. I’ve seen so many drivers who do not yield to people crossing the street because they want to beat either the red light or the incoming traffic as they try to turn from one avenue to another. I believe this is why school safety signs were now put up at every corner.

Avenue Y has always been a dangerous road. I have a vague recollection of a young child being struck and killed by a truck many years ago. After that incident, school crossing guards were hired to man the streets near the school. Does anyone remember the incident that happened, maybe, in the 1980’s?

With a large supermarket (Super Stop & Shop), Petco, gas station, car wash, a bank, and office supply store (Staples), and Doody’s hardware on Avenue Y, this simple road has become a major thoroughfare.

Will the Department of Transportation now need to step in with Poor Driver Crossing Guards?

*Note: This post has been updated with a corrected date of the accident. The original post stated that the accident occurred on Saturday, March 14, 2009.