Update: Traffic Light, Daylighting Requested For Accident Prone Emmons Ave Intersection


by on Sep 5th, 2012

The scene of an April 2011 accident on Bedford Avenue and Emmons Avenue.

Community Board 15 sent a request to the Department of Transportation yesterday, seeking a left turn signal and daylighting at the accident-prone intersection of Emmons Avenue and Bedford Avenue.

The corner, as we reported yesterday, is the site of frequent collisions, according to residents. Cars making a left from eastbound Emmons Avenue onto Bedford Avenue are forced to make a blind turn, as parked cars along the median block the view. We’ve reported on several accidents at the intersection.

The request went in after yet another accident this weekend, spurring members of the Sheepshead Bay / Plumb Beach Civic Association to renew their calls for the turn signal and daylighting, a safety measure that sets parking back several feet in order to increase visibility for oncoming traffic.

But Community Board 15 Chairperson Theresa Scavo said that residents shouldn’t hold their breaths for DOT action.

“How many times have we requested this? This is not the first time we’ve requested this,” Scavo said. “Every now and then we get a call, ‘We need a left turn signal there.’ Fine. But we put in this request several times and it’s always been rejected.”

Scavo added that it can take up to four months for the agency to make their determination. DOT inspectors visit the site and count the number of vehicles making the left turn, as well as look at the intersection’s accident history, and take action dependent on internal criteria.

That leaves residents with little recourse for action, except repeating their request every few months.

“There’s nothing that [neighbors] can do. DOT goes there and does the study. If there is not a certain percentage of cars making that left, they wont do it,” Scavo said. “It doesn’t matter how many people they get letters from, it’s a DOT study and they have criteria and if it’s not there it’s not there.”

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  • Georgia

    I know & I am sure our community board is on this one. As many other things in our neighborhood. This city takes for ever to take care of something as we all know. I reported at street light on East 18th street and it went into limbo. Its leaning over the street not streight the way its supposed to be.  Called 311 and they had to reissue an order for the second time. the DOT, DEP and the parks department are all the same as far as I am concerned a mess. They write the wrong thing when they send you an email back to confirm.

  • BrooklynBus

    As soon as there is one fatality, they will put in the left turn signal, no matter how many left turns there are. Then it wouldn’t look good if they do nothing. 

    • bagels

      True. But there’s plenty of money to change all the street signs from upper case to lower case….. 

      • BrooklynBus

        I believe the federal government pays for all those signs just as long as they are green in color.

    • Kiska777

      I was just going to type the same thing… regardless of the # of accidents, as soon as there is a fatality, they will install the signal and make it like it was their initiative to promote safety.

    • http://www.brucebrodinsky.com Bruce B

      That’s how our democracy seems to work. Nothing gets done until there’s a dire emergency. It’s always seemed to work that way to me, as long as I’ve been alive, I’ve noticed that.

  • Barkingspider07

    Nothing will ever be done, especially if we are depending on our marvelous civic association-a waste of time to even go to them.  They have never accomplished anything.

    • BrooklynBus

      They collected petitions that will bring back the B4.

  • nolastname

    Only because the comments are off for J.R.’s seminar I will ask here. Is there anything other than street parking?