Driver Dead After Speeding Through Red Light

CONEY ISLAND – A 30-year-old man is dead after speeding through a red light and crashing into another car.

On Sunday, April 12 at around 9:51 p.m., Mohammad Rafaq, 30, was driving a 2005 Hyundai Elantra Westbound on Avenue Z. According to the NYPD, he was speeding when he ran a red light at Ocean Parkway, colliding in the intersection with an Infiniti QX6 that was heading north on Ocean Parkway. The Infinity QX6 then struck a pole, before coming to a rest. Dashcam footage can be seen below:

Rafaq, a Midwood resident, was taken to NYU Langone Hospital- Brooklyn where he died on Monday. The other driver refused medical attention at the scene.

Many drivers are using the empty streets as an excuse to speed. “New York City’s speed cameras spit out 83,478 violations in an eight-day period in March — only eight-percent fewer than during a similar eight-day period in January,” Streetsblog reported.

“In the eight-weekday period between March 5 and March 16 — the last date for which there is camera summons data available — those 83,478 tickets average out to 10,434 per day, even though the vast majority of New Yorkers were working from home, or not working at all, during that period,” Streetsblog reported.

As for the tragic car crash, the NYPD says the investigation remains ongoing.