Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue and Manhattan’s Third Avenue are New York City’s deadliest roads for pedestrians, according to a new report that looked at the region’s streets.
The Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a policy watchdog group, found that nine walkers died on both of these busy thoroughfares from 2006 to 2008.
“Clearly, you’ve got a lot of pedestrians here and wide streets where traffic moves very quickly,” the report’s author, Michelle Ernst, said. “There are a lot of pedestrians in Manhattan and Brooklyn and a lot of opportunities for tragedy.”
Surprisingly, perhaps, the region’s most dangerous streets for walking were major suburban roadways dotted with retail destinations. Hempstead Turnpike in Nassau County ranked No. 1 with 13 deaths over that time period.
Staten Island’s Hylan Boulevard also made the list. Just this week, two joggers were mowed down there by a woman reportedly on drugs. One jogger is in critical condition, the other stable.
Ernst praised the city’s Department of Transportation for taking steps to improve pedestrian safety and hopes New York not only follows Connecticut’s “complete streets” law that requires new road construction to accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders and motorists, but also includes improvements to existing streets.
