Compared to previous accidents and fatalities along the Boulevard, all three pedestrians suffered relatively minor injuries, the most serious of which was a broken leg.
Just…
By Jennifer Warren
Three more pedestrians were injured on and near Queens Boulevard last week.
Compared to previous accidents and fatalities along the Boulevard, all three pedestrians suffered relatively minor injuries, the most serious of which was a broken leg.
Just two weeks ago, Eugene Eisenberg, 83, was killed when crossing the Boulevard at 80th Road. His death marked the first this year, but in the past eight years more than 70 pedestrians have been killed on the boulevard.
In the face of such accidents, the police and the city Department of Transportation have ticketed drivers who fail to give the right of way to pedestrians on crosswalks; installed signs warning pedestrians of intersections where deaths have occurred; added protective fencing through stretches in Forest Hills; and repainted crosswalks to make them more visible.
Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills) said she was pleased with the measures.
“I think anything that will make people aware is good. You see [the sign] and it jolts you. It reminds you you have to cross with caution.”
Koslowitz also said that the attention the boulevard has received in recent weeks seems to have had an impact ton drivers.
“I’m on the boulevard every day, and I did notice the cars were not going as fast as usual,” she said.
Last week’s accidents all occurred on Wednesday, Feb. 7. The first, just after 9 a.m., took place when a 38-year-old man crossing Queens Boulevard at 67th Avenue was struck by a car, police said. He was taken to Queens County Hospital with a broken leg, said James Foley, a police spokesman. No summonses were issued, police said.
Later in the day at a car wash on the corner of 62nd Avenue and Queens Boulevard, a 3-year-old child was injured when an employee backed up a car into the stroller, which held the toddler and the child’s 1-year-old sibling, police said. The 3-year-old was taken to St. Johns Hospital for a bruised left hand and the younger child was unharmed, said Foley. The car wash employee fled the scene, police said.
Two hours later at 4:15 p.m. a 76-year-old woman crossing Queens Boulevard at 72nd Road was struck by a 1992 Pontiac traveling east on the boulevard when the driver tried to make a right turn onto 72nd Road, Foley said. The woman was taken to Parkway Hospital where she was treated for high blood pressure, police said. No arrests and no summonses were issued, police said.
Capt. John Essig of the 112th Precinct said the precinct’s approach to summonses is threefold: Jaywalkers, speeders and failure to yield. “A lot of drivers don’t understand that they have to yield to pedestrians,” he said. “When they get the summons, they learn quickly.”
However, pedestrians have to take more responsibility for their own safety, Essig said. Speaking of the man with the a broken leg, Essig said, “if he had just looked before he stepped into the street. Just because you’re in the right, doesn’t make it OK to cross.”
Reach reporter Jennifer Warren by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 155.
