Community Petitions To Make Avenue P Safer After Child Was Hit By A Car

On the morning of Friday, December 9, at around 8:30am, a nine-year-old boy was hit by a car after two vehicles collided and one jumped the curb on the corner of Avenue P and Ryder Street. The boy was in stable condition but neighbors are still up in arms about this dangerous intersection.

A petition that has been going around on the web is calling for two intersections on Avenue P, Ryder Street and Kimball Street, to have all-way stop signs. The petition is collecting signatures for a letter addressed to local pols like Assemblymember Helene Weinstein, Senators Martin Golden and Roxanne Persaud, and Councilmembers Jumaane Williams and Alan Maisel.

The letter demands the Department of Transportation (DOT) install all-way stop signs, remove trees blocking the stop signs, and add street lights to the corners. These neighbors have asked for these changes for years, according to the letter, but the DOT has refused to concede despite “weekly accidents at these intersections.”

“We are not sure what price the lives of our children are to the bureaucrats making these decisions, but as our elected representatives, it is your responsibility to make them put these signs in,” reads the letter. “This shouldn’t take months or years, but days!”

Right now, there are only stop signs for traffic looking to cross Avenue P on Ryder Street of Kimball Street. Cars driving down Avenue P do not stop at either street. The all-way stop signs would require cars coming from all directions to stop at each intersection.

Weinstein has come out in support of these changes to the Avenue P intersections. In a comment on our article regarding Friday’s accident, she said she would ask DOT Commissioner Keith Bray to come down to observe the intersection to possibly install the all-way stop sign.

She said she would post a follow-up once she heard back from the DOT.

A DOT spokesperson had this to tell the Bites:

In August, NYC DOT conducted a feasibility study for traffic controls at the intersection of Avenue P and Ryder Street. We denied the signal study at this location because it did not meet the nationally recognized traffic engineering safety standards for traffic controls that we follow. We are currently looking into additional safety measures in the area.

The petition has 735 signatures right now and is looking to get 265 more.