Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 15
NY1: A memorial for Felix Mendez still stands at the corner of Bedford and Lafayette avenues in Bedford-Stuyvesant more than two months after he died.
The intersection is where the 49-year-old was struck and killed by a speeding driver, one of at least 112 pedestrians killed in the city so far this year, according to the NYPD.
That number already exceeds 2023’s total of 95. It happened just before a new protected bike lane went in on Bedford Avenue.
“Traffic calming measures like this, which might seem to only be good for bikes, are actually good for every single person using the street,” said Alexa Sledge, director of communications for street safety advocacy group Transportation Alternatives. “And they are going to save lives on this street.”
Sledge says while overall traffic fatalities are down slightly, one statistic is alarming: the number of children killed. Yet she says some people have complained about the bike lane being a threat to children.
“At the same time, a bike rider has not killed a single child in New York City this year,” Sledge said. “But cars and trucks have killed 16 children in New York City this year.”
Overall traffic deaths — which includes people inside of vehicles — are at 242 this year, below last year’s total of 246, which was the lowest number since Vision Zero started, with the exception of 2020, which was an outlier because of COVID-19.
In a statement a spokesperson for the city Department of Transportation said: “The Adams administration has prioritized street safety by undertaking transformational street redesigns, building a record number of protected bike lane miles, implementing a record amount of new pedestrianized space, and improving visibility at a record number of intersections….”
