A Brooklyn cyclist was struck and killed by a cement truck on Monday, becoming the 15th city cyclist to be killed so far this year, and the third over the past week.
Devra Freelander, 28, a well-known sculptor and video artist whose work had been featured throughout the city. On Monday heading north on her bike toward a Williamsburg intersection, Freelander collided with an eastbound cement truck.
Outlets are reporting that she was seen on surveillance footage, entering Boerum Street and Bushwick Avenue intersection at around 12:20 p.m. when she struck.
NBC reports that the truck driver remained on scene and had a green light when he struck the rider.
As of Tuesday afternoon, police were still investigating the incident. No arrests have been made.
Freelander becomes the 15th biker to die in 2019, already surpassing last year’s total of 11. According to The Brooklyn Eagle 11 of the 15 deaths occurred in Brooklyn.
The other victims killed within the past week were Ernest Askew and Robin Hightman. Askew was hit by a teen driver and ended up dying in the hospital, Pix 11 reported. CBS reported that Hightman was killed by a truck and pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
In a Tuesday interview with Pix11, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “We have to do something different now. Look, this is a crisis. For five years, Vision Zero has been working consistently driving down fatalities. We had 100 fewer fatalities last year than we had five years earlier. But this – these last weeks, and few months really, have been horrible, and my heart goes out to everyone, to the families but also, I think, people who use bicycles all over the city are feeling this right now. We are going do something different.”
In a Monday release, de Blasio said he was directing the NYPD to “immediately launch a major enforcement action that will encompass every precinct and crack down on dangerous driving behavior like parking in bike lanes. At the same time, I have charged the Department of Transportation with developing a new cyclist safety plan to make biking in our city safer. No loss of life on our streets is acceptable.”
Organizations like Transporation Alternatives are criticizing the mayor and have taken to sharing their statement to Twitter, sharing, “To that end, Transporation alternatives is calling on the mayor to immediately task DOT commissioner with creating an emergency response plan worthy of this crisis that can be implemented as soon as possible.” Additionally, they are calling for the city council to pass a Vision Zero State of Emergency Omnibus Bill to “…bundle a suite of recently proposed traffic safety laws, including efforts to increase intersection visibility…reform New York City’s trucking and freight policies; pilot automated enforcement technologies that can protect bikes lanes and intersections from drivers…”
Transportation Alternatives and other activists plan on attending Tuesday evening’s Manhattan Community Board 7 Full Board meeting on the Upper West Side
