Kingsborough, Precinct Ramp Up Beach Safety Efforts

Drivers exiting Kingsborough are getting a warning.

In addition to electronic signs around the school reminding students and faculty to drive safely, cars leaving the gate are being stopped by security and given a flier from the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Student Life. And they’re not just being given to students – we got our copy from a mother who was picking up her daughter at Leon M. Goldstein High School (located on KBCC’s campus).

The flier, pictured at left, reminds drivers that the speed limit is 30 mph, and that “a good neighbor policy is to avoid reckless driving and speeding on Oriental and Shore Blvds.” It adds:

Recently, there have been several accidents on these roadways involving pedestrians, students and faculty, resulting in serious injuries. Please realize that speeding, reckless driving, cellphone usage and texting while driving are against the law and will be strictly enforced by the NYPD.

Members of the community are seeing it as a sign the school is taking the situation seriously. Both of the neighborhood’s civic groups (Manhattan Beach Community Group and Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association) have criticized the administration for not doing enough to encourage safe, responsible driving.

“We’re happy the college finally saw there was a need to get people to slow down and drive carefully in our community,” said MBCG President Ira Zalcman.

But Zalcman stressed the importance of a continued effort to educate drivers.  Some new low-cost initiatives he proposed to aid the school’s effort include posting signs when leaving the campus, sending out e-mails with every registration reminding them to drive safely, and offer free one-credit driving workshops (or even classes that reduce insurance).

“I hope it’s not a one time occurrence. The key here is consistency,” Zalcman said. “Every term they have new students and they need to communicate the effort to drive carefully.”

Meanwhile, a reader who studies at Kingsborough Community College (and commutes by bicycle) wrote in to say that police presence is way up in Manhattan Beach, following the recent spate of accidents that almost exclusively involved Kingsborough students. He said in the past week he has seen several drivers receiving tickets along Shore Boulevard. He added that a police car also set up a speed trap by pulling up on the curb, partially hiding his car behind the unused security booth near the footbridge.