{"id":155652,"date":"2026-03-06T20:50:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155652\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T20:50:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:50:34","slug":"advocates-urge-mamdanis-dot-to-lower-speed-limit-on-road-after-boy-killed-in-brooklyn-hit-and-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155652\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocates urge Mamdani\u2019s DOT to lower speed limit on road after boy killed in Brooklyn hit-and-run"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Brooklyn\t\t\t<\/p>\n

A view of the Brownsville crosswalk where a four-year-old boy was struck and killed by an SUV driver on March 5, 2026.<\/p>\n

Photo by Google Street View<\/p>\n

Safe streets advocates called on Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a>\u2018s administration to lower the speed limit on a Brooklyn thoroughfare after a 4-year-old boy was killed<\/a> by an SUV driver in a hit-and-run collision.<\/p>\n

The advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, in a Thursday evening statement, said that following the incident, Mamdani\u2019s Department of Transportation (DOT)<\/a> should use its legal authority to lower the speed limit where the March 5 crash took place, on Rockaway Parkway near Linden Boulevard in Brownsville.<\/p>\n

The organization said the DOT should cut the speed limit on the corridor from 25 to 20 miles per hour, a power\u00a0granted to the city under state legislation known as\u00a0\u201cSammy\u2019s Law,\u201d <\/a>passed in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A speed camera at the intersection of Rockaway Parkway and Linden Boulevard caught 3,600 people speeding last year, the group said, averaging almost 10 drivers a day.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are devastated to learn that a driver hit and killed a 4-year-old boy this morning in Brooklyn,\u201d said Ben Furnas, Transportation Alternatives\u2019 executive director, in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is every parent\u2019s nightmare and it was wholly preventable,\u201d he continued. \u201cOur thoughts are with their family. We must build a New York City that\u2019s safe for children \u2014 and that means finally implementing Sammy\u2019s Law to ensure drivers are moving at a safe 20 mph.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crash took place on Thursday morning when the child bolted away from his parents into a mid-block crosswalk across Rockaway Parkway just north of Linden Boulevard, according to police. The boy, whom police identified as area resident Zachariah Padilla, was then mowed down by the driver of a white Ford Explorer SUV, who was heading northbound on Rockaway Parkway on a green light at the time.<\/p>\n

The unidentified driver fled the scene after failing to stop.\n<\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s parents rushed him to Brookdale University Hospital, right next to the site of the crash, where he died from his injuries.\n<\/p>\n

Police have not made an arrest and are still searching for the SUV driver.\n<\/p>\n

The advocacy group noted that the DOT has not lowered the speed limit on Rockaway Parkway, even though it has the power to do so and considers the road a priority corridor for Vision Zero, the city\u2019s long-running plan<\/a> to reduce traffic deaths and injuries.<\/p>\n

The advocates also pointed out that former Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 administration reduced speeds on just 2% of eligible streets. Furnas said Mamdani has the opportunity to change that.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the mayor settles into City Hall, he has an incredible opportunity to reshape and redesign New York City,\u201d he said. \u201cWe look forward to his forthcoming Vision Zero plan, and expect his team to correct his predecessor\u2019s mistakes and finally widely implement Sammy\u2019s Law across New York City. Every parent should feel safe walking on the street with their child, but they can\u2019t until our streets are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

amNewYork reached out to the DOT press office for comment on this story, but did not receive a response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A view of the Brownsville crosswalk where a four-year-old boy was struck and killed by an SUV driver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[64425,27810,98,100,99,34558,6157,81,22925,9,24,63,103,613,64291,51050,21992,12822,64290],"class_list":["post-155652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-4-year-old-killed","tag-ben-furnas","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-department-of-transporation","tag-dot","tag-eric-adams","tag-mayor-zohran-mamdani","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nypd","tag-pm-newsletter","tag-rockaway-parkway","tag-sammys-law","tag-transportation-alternatives","tag-vision-zero","tag-zachariah-padilla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}