SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Source: mikey k/Flickr

A pedestrian walking on the Belt Parkway died after being struck by a car early Sunday morning, according to authorities.

Police say the man was walking on the westbound side of the highway near the Bay Parkway exit just after midnight. A black Nissan Altima  struck the 53-year-old man. Emergency responders pronounced the victim dead at the scene.

The vehicle’s driver remained at the scene and has not been charged, and authorities closed all westbound lanes during the investigation.

The accident made for a gruesome scene for passersby. Reader Tanya N. sent us the following:

FYI there is a crazy accident on the belt right now we saw body parts laying around and half a body. they’re making cars on the belt make uturn in same lane. please find out details. I’m still shaking

Another reader, jzero, sent in a similar account:

There was a horrific accident on the belt pkwy last nite around bay pkwy west bound. I looked over to see what I believed to be  a dismembered body laying on the roadway. It was so horrible.

The victim’s identity has not yet been released.

Other news outlets reporting on the accident include the Daily News, DNAinfo and ABC News.

In the past I have complained about the driving habits of our neighbors, but today it’s the pedestrian’s turn to suffer my wrath.

What the hell is wrong with the people walking the streets of Sheepshead Bay? A little jaunt from East 12th Street and Avenue Z to Nostrand Avenue and Avenue U today made me think I was recreating “Death Race 2000″ with pedestrians jumping out in front of my car trying to add to my point score.

Up first was a little old man, using a walker, who jumped, as much as an old man using a walker can, in front of my car on Avenue Z by Sheepshead Bay Gourmet. He stopped in front of my car to allow a truck to pass in the opposite direction. The next car wasn’t so lucky, slamming on it’s breaks to keep the old gentleman alive.

As I watched him mount the sidewalk, a not-so-little and not-so-old woman, with hair dyed a color never to be found in nature, entered the Avenue Z roadway from the north side, in front of the car that just laid down about 20 feet of rubber as it  screamed to a halt for the little old man. As she passed in front of me, she shook her fingers in some sort of taunting manner. Damn, if this was only the movie, lady, you would have added at least 20 points to my score. The little old man, hell, he was worth 100!

Driving up Ocean Avenue, I could see kids (40 points each) running across the street a block away. They were in the middle of the block and definitely not looking as they crossed. Over on Nostrand, between Avenue X and Avenue V, there’s so many people walking across the street and out from between parked cars it might as well be a pedestrian mall!

On Avenue U, it continued by the post office, by Jay and Lloyds and by Brennan and Carr. It’s not always kids, today’s offenders were mostly middle-aged women. What – don’t they break? Or are they like Tigger and bounce. Sometimes it’s tempting to find out.

My number one complaint is the parents with kids in strollers who push the child out into traffic as they cross. If this were indeed “Death Race 2000,” this would be an ideal situation as toddlers are worth 70 points! But no, I unfortunately drive much like Frankenstein and avoid the easy gets.

So, come on Sheepshead Bay. Play by the rules. Drive safely and if you’re walking, remember cars hurt when they slam into your flesh. Cross at the corners and with the light. Or, should we just let the games begin?

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced plans to kick off the second phase of construction on Plumb Beach in April, but say they’ll have to close the parking lot and detour the damaged bike path until the end of the year.

Continue Reading »

Photo: TheRealSappy/Twitter

Police are investigating the cause of a Saturday evening accident, in which a car veered onto an Ocean Avenue sidewalk and struck three people.

The accident happened at approximately 4:30 between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Ocean Avenue and Voorhies Avenue, and left three people injured.

One of the victims is in critical condition.

Police closed down Ocean Avenue from Avenue Z to Shore Parkway for approximately an hour, readers told Sheepshead Bites.

Authorities were still investigating what caused the driver to go off the road as of Sunday afternoon.

UPDATE (11:05 a.m.): NYPD sources have confirmed that the victims were three females, aged 27, 15 and 14. They were all taken to Lutheran Medical Center, with the two younger victims in stable condition. The 27-year-old is in critical condition.

Police also revealed that the car, a 2000 black Nissan, was traveling north on Ocean Avenue when the 66-year-old driver blew through a red light, mounted the curb and struck the victims.

There is no indication that the driver was under the influence of any kind of drug or alcohol, the police source noted, though he was issued a summons for failure to stop at a red light. It is currently being investigated as an accident, though additional charges may be leveled at the driver as the investigation unfolds.

Correction: (3/29/2013 at 10:41 a.m.): The 15-year-old victim, still in the hospital, left a comment below correcting the time stated above. It was between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m., she said, and not 4:30 p.m. as we previously reported.

Kingsborough Community College administrators have moved the drop-off location of the yellow school bus that shuttles students from campus to subway station and back, no longer allowing it on the school’s property. The new location has a local civic group fuming that the school is piling on more traffic problems along the problem-prone Oriental Boulevard.

The school made a decision approximately five years weeks ago barring the Safe Coach bus from entering the campus out of a concern for safety, said Ruby Ryles, the school’s spokesperson.

“Public Safety feels they can scrutinize students and others entering the campus on foot better than on the bus,” Ryles told Sheepshead Bites.

The solution they came up with was to begin dropping students off in the same turnaround the MTA uses at Mackenzie Street for its B1 and B49 buses. The problem is, they never asked the MTA’s permission, and the Manhattan Beach Community Group said they feel like the school snubbed them by not asking their opinion.

“They just do things without telling us,” said the group’s president, Ira Zalcman. “They’re in our community, but they never bother listening to our concerns. This has been going on for years.”

Zalcman said he notified the MTA to find if the agency okay’d the co-location. The MTA said absolutely not.

“MTA New York City Transit runs very frequent service out of that loop,” MTA spokesperson Deirdre Parker told Sheepshead Bites. “We feel there is not enough room to accommodate Safe Coach in addition to NYCT buses at that location.  We are looking into our options which includes restricting the stop to Transit buses only.”

The school today agreed to move the location again – this time to Oriental Boulevard just outside of the gates. But they still won’t enter.

“The matter is now resolved,” Ryles said.

Not to the Manhattan Beach Community Group, though.

“Kingsborough almost capitulated. Almost,” Zalcman said when he heard the news. He pointed out that there No Stopping Anytime signs all along that stretch of Oriental Boulevard, which the DOT defines as “you may not wait, stop to load/unload packages or merchandise at curbside, or drop off or pick up passengers at this location.”

“We’re going to call the police station and we expect them to enforce all existing laws. They can’t stand there,” Zalcman said.

The problem, he claims is that it adds to traffic and safety concerns to have a large vehicle there, and to be unnecessarily dumping Kingsborough students into the community. He wants the school bus – and the MTA buses, for that matter – to drop off students on campus.

“It’s enough that we have cars sitting there all day waiting for students. We think they should have a waiting area that should also be on campus. The MTA turnaround should be on campus, the waiting area should be on campus, the yellow bus should be on campus” he said. “We have enough car safety issues in the community, and they just don’t want to listen to our concerns.”

Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly stated that the decision to discharge students off campus was made five years ago. It was five weeks ago, and the article has been corrected.

State Senator Marty Golden. Photo by Erica Sherman

Last year, State Senator Marty Golden introduced a bill that would stiffen penalties for hit and run and drivers. The bill passed in the Senate but failed to gain traction in the Assembly. Golden and a group of other local politicians have not given up and have reintroduced the bill, according to a press release.

The bill would change the crime of a fatal hit and run from a Class D felony to a Class C felony, which ups the prison time to a maximum of 15 years. It also would eliminate a loophole, which allowed drunk drivers to escape the penalties they deserve:

Drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol can actually receive less of a punishment if they flee the scene of an accident.  For example, in the case of a first-time offender, a driver who wrongfully flees the scene of an accident where a personal injury has occurred can only be charged with a Class A Misdemeanor which carries a maximum penalty of only 1 year in jail.  However, if the driver remains at the scene and is found to be intoxicated or impaired by drugs, he or she can be immediately charged with a Class E felony which carries a maximum penalty of four years of imprisonment. Therefore, the incentive for a drunk or impaired driver to flee the scene of a hit and run accident is greater.

Golden expressed hope that the legislation would improve safety on the roads and save lives:

I thank my colleagues for their support of this legislation which has the potential to decrease the number of incidents where motorists just keep going after hitting a pedestrian.  In my district and throughout the State, families have been destroyed by such a disregard for human life.  I believe that there are instances where, if the driver stopped at the scene and called for help, the victim may have had a chance to survive.  This legislation will make our roads safer and save lives, and this year, this bill should become law.

A high-powered spotlight used to illuminate Coney Island Hospital’s (2601 Ocean Parkway) construction work appears to be irking neighbors, and possibly blinding drivers.

Here’s what tipster Ed L. wrote to us:

There is a lack of concern for the neighbors and community as well as the safety of cars that come around the corner of Shore Parkway and East 6th St.  The construction crew aim the lights in the direction of Shore Pkwy and East 6th St blinding drivers as they turn the corner as well as blinding the community. I have asked for the lights to be aimed at the hospital not into the windows and streets of the community. They just don’t care.

Well, we doubt the folks there don’t care. The hospital shuttered during Sandy, and has only partially reopened as they make repairs. With thousands in the community depending on them as a 911 intake facility and provider of other critical health services, we know the team is  laboring to bring the community hospital back on line as soon as possible. But that’s no excuse for making a dangerous situation for drivers and neighbors.

Sheepshead Bites has contacted the hospital’s administration and is awaiting a response.

Source: Sébastien Santoro via Wikimedia Commons

A report from the American Automobile Association (AAA) came out last month stating that red light cameras rigged to traffic lights on Ocean Parkway and Emmons Avenue are 15 percent shorter than the average three second time for a yellow light to change into a red light.

The nationwide not-for-profit group called for widespread changes in New York’s yellow traffic light timings based on their findings. New York does not have a legal time requirement for a yellow light, and AAA claimed that this is a danger for pedestrians and drivers.

Now, information has come from the Department of Transportation that states the study done by AAA was completely bogus because the intersections they claim to have surveyed are timed at three seconds, an appropriate duration, while some of the intersections in question don’t even have red light cameras.

AAA is now saying it’s study wasn’t all that much a study at all.

“It wasn’t really a study,”said AAA Spokesperson Robert Sinclair, in a story published by Streets Blog. “It was an ad-hoc survey.”

What is factual is that the cameras brought in a lot of money from tickets issued, up to $235 million in funds in the past five years. As we’ve stated before, many drivers and advocates say that the cameras and quick-to-change lights are a danger and a way to collect quick revenue, rather than a means to control traffic safety.

After the AAA reports surfaced, DOT claimed they did their own survey on the intersections AAA mentioned and found them to be within regulation. They also put up a frequently-asked-questions post on their site refuting the claims that AAA made:

Myth: Traffic signals are timed with shorter yellow signals to snare motorists.

Fact: New York City’s traffic signals are all timed to provide a minimum of 3 seconds of yellow light, which is consistent with national guidelines. Red-light cameras take pictures 0.3 seconds after the light has turned red.

Myth: A news report found four camera locations where signals were timed to less than 3 seconds.

Fact: All four locations reported on were immediately inspected and all were found to have appropriate timing. Two of the four intersections reported on didn’t even have red-light cameras. There has been no substantiation that any red-light cameras in this report were improperly timed or led to any violation being issued incorrectly.

AAA still states that the unregulated lights need to be addressed.

“Whatever it takes — if it’s a city law, if it’s a state law, there need to be some standards put into place,” said Sinclair.

(Source: DaveBleasdale/Flickr)

If you find yourself waiting at a traffic light on Ocean Parkway or Emmons Avenue and feel the need for speed, it might be wise to cool your engines.

According to the New York Post, the city’s newly installed red light cameras are rigged to traffic lights with faster than average yellow lights. The duration of a “regular” yellow traffic light is three seconds, while lights rigged with cameras that catch speeders and red light violators have been clocked as low as 2.53 seconds, according to a study done by the AAA.

As you might already expect, these shorter yellow lights have brought in a boatload of revenue, racking up $235 million in funds in the past five years, and upwards of $47 million last year alone.

DOT spokeswoman Nicole Garcia suggested there’s no discrepancy between camera-monitored intersections and others, but did note that, if there was, the city has every right to do so.

“There is no legal requirement for the length of a yellow signal … Our practice is consistent with federal guidelines that ‘the yellow … should have a minimum duration of three seconds.’ This provides adequate time for a motorist traveling the speed limit to come to a stop.”

As we’ve covered previously, some say the cameras attached to the lights show no mercy when recording violators, punishing motorists with $50 tickets for cruising through the light a fraction of a second too late.

The city insists that the cameras promote safety, but when the lights are rigged, all signs seem to point towards a cheap source of massive revenue, not protection.

[via Friends of Ocean Parkway]

While the New York City Department of Transportation reconsiders the community’s request for increased traffic safety measures at the intersection of Emmons Avenue and Bedford Avenue for the umpteenth time, yet another accident occurred over the weekend.

Reader and Sheepshead Bay / Plumb Beach Civic Association member Tom Paolillo sent us the photos and the following:

Sunday morning, September 9th 2012….awakened by BANG..the sound of crunching metal and screeching skidding tires….this time the occupants of the small Toyota were injured when they were hit broadside by the van…The Toyota obviously could not see the approaching van while attempting to turn left onto to Bedford Ave.

A picture is worth a thousand words…

Indeed.

The Sheepshead Bay / Plumb Beach Civic Association has been demanding safety improvements to the intersection for several years. Most recently, they renewed their calls at their meeting last week, saying the site needs a left turn signal on the eastbound side of Emmons Avenue, and daylighting – a setback of parking to improve visibility – on the median.

Community Board 15 Chairperson Theresa Scavo put a new request in to DOT last week, but the agency has denied similar requests for the location multiple times before.