Pedestrian Struck At Notoriously Dangerous Coney Island Avenue & Cortelyou Road Intersection

A pedestrian was struck on

According to unconfirmed reports, the pedestrian was a child, but the FDNY and NYPD did not have the age of the person. The FDNY said the individual was transported to Methodist Hospital, but the spokesman did not have their condition.

When we reached the 66th Precinct, which responded to the accident, the officer we spoke to said he had no information about the pedestrian but did say that because no report had come across the precinct’s main information desk, “everything is probably OK.”

If you have any more information about this accident, you can email us at editor@kensingtonbk.com. As soon as we learn anything more about the incident, we’ll update this post.

Area residents have long been concerned about safety at Cortelyou and Coney Island Avenue. This past fall, as part of the city’s participatory budgeting program (a process that allows residents to have a direct say on what they’d like to see funded in their area), a neighbor, Amanda, suggested a “pedestrian friendly intersection at Coney Island Avenue and Cortelyou Road,” which she said would allow people to “safely cross the street without the fear of being hit by turning buses, cars, and trucks, despite the walk signal, and those running red lights.”

But, because Councilman Mathieu Eugene, who represents the area at Cortelyou and Coney Island Avenue, isn’t involved in the participatory budgeting program (legislators aren’t mandated to take part in the program), funding for such a project is harder to land through the PB project. As part of participatory budgeting, anyone is able to suggest projects outside of district lines, but, ultimately, only residents living in the participating lawmaker’s district will be able to vote on the proposals.

Area lawmakers who are involved in participatory budgeting include Councilman Jumaane Williams and Councilman Brad Lander. Lander’s final PB projects do not include the intersection, and we are still waiting on the final project announcement from Williams’ office.

Alongside Amanda, numerous neighbors have pleaded with city officials to strengthen security at the intersection.

On Amanda’s submission, which you unfortunately can no longer see on the Participatory Budgeting website, neighbor Daniel Silverman wrote:

This would be a game changer for both Ditmas Park & Kensington. Given that there’s been such intense growth in the restaurant/retail/service biz between Stratford and East 9th Streets on Cortelyou and on CIA between Avenue C and Ditmas Avenue, it’s about time the proper attention was paid to safety.

Neighbor Michele Giordano wrote, in reference to Amanda’s proposal, “this is a family-friendly neighborhood that deserves better” than the current Cortelyou-CIA intersection.

Michele wrote:

I cross this intersection at minimum 2x a day with my baby and often have to deal with vehicles that are trying to turn while there is a walk sign, those that are running lights, or cars that are beeping to not let pedestrians pass. I wish there was more time to let a pedestrian cross without having to manage the complication of the light allowing cars to turn into the crosswalk.

What do you think? What needs to happen to make life safer at this intersection?