Safe streets advocates said on Thursday that Siobhan Lynch, a 30-year-old woman who was struck and killed by a city Sanitation Department (DSNY) garbage truck driver on Oct. 28, could still be alive today if there had been safety features installed at the southern Brooklyn intersection where she was hit.
Transportation Alternatives alleged in an Oct. 29 news release that the city Department of Transportation (DOT) could have prevented the Wednesday crash by opting to install pedestrian-protective enhancements to the Bath Beach intersection of Bay Parkway and Cropsey Avenue as part of its current redesign of the two roads.
The group highlighted that between 2020 and 2024 the intersection was the second most dangerous on Bay Parkway, which DOT has identified as a “Priority Corridor” under its Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries. The DOT recorded 41 injuries at the crossing during that time.
“We know that the streets and intersections with the most extensive crash histories are our most dangerous, and the history of Cropsey Avenue and Bay Parkway is a mile-long,” said Ben Furnas, Transportation Alternatives’ executive director.
“Our street redesigns should be driven by crash data, but on Bay Parkway, we redesigned a street and left one of its most dangerous intersections unsafe,” he added. “Now, a New Yorker has lost their life. This tragedy was predictable, preventable, and we owe it to every New Yorker to make sure that it never happens again.”
Transportation Alternatives spokesperson Michelle Deme said the group concluded DOT was not adding safety features to the intersection because it did not indicate that it would in its initial plan for the project released in 2024. The redesign, construction of which began earlier this month, will add pedestrian safety elements such as median islands, painted median extension, and painted curb extensions to both roads.
DOT pushes back on safe street advocates’ criticism
DOT spokesperson Vincent Barone, however, disputed the group’s assertion, noting that the agency is in fact adding a painted curb extension to the intersection’s northeast corner. The feature is designed to shorten the distances pedestrians have to cross, while also slowing vehicle speeds.
Barone added that offset and curbside bus lanes that are being installed along both Bay Parkway and Cropsey Avenue as part of the redesign will make each road safer for pedestrians and cyclists as well.
“This was an awful tragedy—no loss of life on our streets is acceptable, and our thoughts are with Siobhan’s family and loved ones,” Barone said in a statement. “NYC DOT’s redesign of Bay Parkway and Cropsey Avenue will help both make buses faster and more reliable while also enhancing safety along the corridors, including at this intersection, to help protect all New Yorkers.”
But Deme fired back, arguing that one curb extension on the opposite side of the street from where the Lynch was killed is not enough to make the intersection as safe as it needs to be.
“While we welcome any additional safety improvements by DOT, a single painted curb extension on the opposite corner of the intersection would not have saved Siobhan Lynch’s life,” Deme said in a statement. “This is one of Bay Parkway’s most dangerous intersections, and it needs more than paint. We hope DOT will continue to implement more comprehensive safety improvements that protect pedestrians at this intersection and beyond.”
Lynch was crossing from the southwest to southeast corner of Bay Parkway when she was struck by the garbage truck driver around 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday, according to cops. The 41-year-old male driver hit Lynch as he was making a right turn from Cropsey Avenue onto Bay Parkway.
Lynch was thrown to the pavement, where she hit her head and sustained severe trauma, the NYPD said. She was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where she was pronounced dead.
The DSNY driver remained at the scene, according to the police. No arrests were made, and the NYPD’s Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad is investigating the incident.
“This is a terrible tragedy, and our thoughts are with the family of the victim,” said DSNY spokesperson Vincent Gragnani, in a statement. “DSNY is assisting NYPD with their ongoing investigation.”