Car Crash On CIA And Cortelyou Last Night, And How You Can Help Make A Change

Neighbor Matthew writes:

On my way home tonight, at about 9:15, there were a lot of emergency vehicles at the intersection of Cortelyou Road and Coney Island Avenue. Two vehicles, a silver SUV and a brown mini-van looked like they had been in a head-on collision as the two cars were turning from one street to the other.

The SUV appeared to have been turning left from Coney Island avenue onto Cortelyou Road (direction toward Ditmas Park) and the brown minivan appeared to have been turning right (north) from Cortelyou onto Coney Island ave, when they collided head-on.
The front of the SUV was totaled, windshield broken and airbag activated. The driver’s side front of the brown minivan was also crushed. Did not see if there were any casualties, though several ambulances were at the scene and were packing up by the time I arrived.

The traffic at that intersection has never been good, with the staggered lights and no turn signal, and as someone who crosses Coney Island Avenue at that point almost every day, I’ve seen more near-misses there than I care to count. But this was far and away the worst accident I’ve ever seen at that corner.

Reader Alsivi also sent in this picture recently of the double-parking that continues to hinder safe traffic flow on CIA:

We’ve reached out to Councilmember Eugene several times about a rain date on his previously-cancelled traffic calming forum, but haven’t gotten a response. However, other Ditmas Park residents also concerned about the safety of the intersection, or traffic anywhere in the neighborhood, can contact:

Community Board 12: bkcb12@gmail.com, 718-851-0800
66th Precinct: 66pctnypd@gmail.com, 718-851-5611
Councilmember Mathieu Eugene: MEugene@council.nyc.gov, 718-287-8762
Mike Racioppo, Eugene’s Chief of Staff: mracioppo@council.nyc.gov