Motor Mayhem

Two young women standing on a median on Queens Boulevard were struck and crushed on July 10 when a BMW SUV hit by a Subaru Forester at the intersection of 78th Avenue and Queens Blvd. flipped over and landed on them.
The mayhem began when 63-year-old Valery Frumkin ran a red light at 78th Avenue and careened into the BMW headed westbound along Queens Boulevard, sending it somersaulting over four lanes and onto the pedestrian island.
Caprice Bush, 23, a Queens resident, died at the scene, her co-worker and friend Sharon Rivers, 34, of the Bronx, died a day later at Jamaica Hospital. On a lunch break from J.P. Morgan Chase the pair crossed the notorious boulevard of death and stopped on the median. More than 80 deaths have occurred on the strip in the last ten years.
The seven-mile boulevard, which has over 100 intersections and at some points spans as wide as 14 lanes, has become a danger zone for pedestrians, who have been killed jaywalking or by reckless drivers. The latest deaths are the third and fourth this year on the boulevard. Two occurred earlier in January, two in 2002 and four in 2001. Previous accidents, like this one, which took the lives of two up-and-coming professionals, have stoked anger in residents near Queens Boulevard, who feel their politicians and the Department of Transportation (DOT) are not doing enough to prevent these tragedies.
"Its a catastrophe in the making," said Dorothy Kominski, who lives in an apartment complex on Queens Boulevard and 60th Street. She has written letters to her local representatives complaining that her intersection is still a death trap especially for the elderly despite improvements by the DOT, which raised the medians on the boulevard. Kominski says that many of the senior citizens dont even bother crossing the block out of fear of getting hit.
Yet, DOT contends that this latest accident could have happened anywhere.
"From an engineering point of view, we don’t think that we could have stopped it," said Tom Cocola, a DOT spokesman. He said the accident was the result of negligent driving, referring to a Daily News story that reported Frumkins wife as saying her husband had a history of neurological problems.
"There was a human error component," said Cocola. "We always say that the three components of driving are engineering, enforcement and an educated driver. Unfortunately the mans wife is in the paper saying he blacked out." Cocola said the DOT welcomes suggestions on improvements.
Since the early 1990s, improvements have been made to the boulevard. In 1999, DOT contracted URS Consultants to conduct a study, which examined where safety improvements could be made. The first phase examined the middle section of the boulevard, from Yellowstone Boulevard to 67th Road. Recommendations from that study were implemented. The improvements included the posting of a few red light cameras and pedestrian warning signs, extending the cross-walk time, adding fencing along the boulevard to prevent jaywalking, and turning one lane on its service road into metered parking.
The second phase examined the western and eastern sections of Queens Boulevard. Though the study is incomplete, DOT has already begun adding pedestrian fencing from Van Dam Street to Hillside Avenue. The department was spurred by the first two deaths of this year and the two from last year all the result of jaywalking.
Despite the increased safety measures, the recent deaths have advocates wanting DOT and local representatives to do more.
"Queens Boulevard must be re-engineered now," said Estelle Chwat, co-president of the Forest Hills Action League. She and her husband, Norbert, led a rally in 2000 that shut down the boulevard, after a speeding automobile struck 14-year-old Sophia Leviyev at the 67th Avenue intersection. Her organization will lead a candlelight vigil on the corner of 78th Avenue and Queens Boulevard on Thursday, July 31. Chwat plans on calling for the resignation of politicians if they do not take steps to make the area safer.
"It is a failure of those individuals who have been elected and appointed to serve the people of this county," said the Forest Hills advocate.
She believes the boulevard needs an increased traffic and law enforcement presence, similar to Manhattan.
Councilman Eric Gioia also thinks more police squad cars and foot patrols would curb reckless driving on the boulevard. "Just a single police car sitting on 65th Place means thousands of motorists will slow down," said the councilman. "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure."
Other groups think the DOT can do more to improve the area.
"What happened on Queens Boulevard today is a tragedy that reminds us all that despite a multitude of safety improvements, the boulevard is still a dangerous place," said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. The borough president said her office would continue to work with DOT to implement safety improvements for pedestrians and drivers.
Traffic Alternatives, a non-profit safety advocacy group, offered a litany of safety measures that could be made to the deadly boulevard. One simple solution that can be highly effective, said the groups executive director John Kaehny, was to add more red light cameras to the boulevard.
These cameras take a photo of the license of a car that runs a red light. The owner of the vehicle is automatically issued a ticket. Kaehny said studies done in California have shown that roads with the cameras have lowered crashes by 46%. He added that the ones in use in New York City, 25 in total, have done a great job in slowing drivers down at intersections.
"Our hope is that this latest crash will lend some urgency to the Queens delegation of the Assembly to press Sheldon Silver to support legislation that gives more red light cameras to the city," said Kaehny, referring to legislation 4806, which has been stewing in the State Assembly since last session. If passed, it would add 50 cameras around the city, with some going to the "boulevard of death." However, the legislation stalled last session due to apprehension by the chairman of the Assemblys transportation committee, David Gant, who felt the cameras invade motorists privacy.
Assemblyman Ivan Lafayette, whose district, Jackson Heights, has suffered many casualties on the boulevard, agrees that cameras can cut down on red-light runners. "From the statistics that I see, the number of people who pass a red light goes down dramatically over a period of a few months with these cameras," said the assemblyman. "And the number of pedestrian injuries goes down just as a dramatically."
Lafayette was the first to introduce camera legislation, during the Koch administration. He said that at the end of the last session he got Gant to agree on the legislation and expects it to pass in the next session, slated for September.
Kaehny believes DOT needs to also address the bigger picture of Queens Boulevard, which means cutting down on traffic volume. "There is no question the boulevard is a lot safer now than it was three years ago," said the traffic advocate. "But, there is also no question that for the long term, the next fifty years, its not working well for anyone: motorists, bus drivers and pedestrians."
He said that traffic in Queens has swelled since the 1970s and that the boulevard is not suited to hold such high volumes. Exacerbating the situation, said Kaehny, is the lack of parallel roads to the boulevard. He thinks other roads need to be added to alleviate traffic. He also suggests that DOT remove the boulevards service roads and widen the pedestrian median.
Assemblyman Michael Cohen stated that the city needs to decide what type of roadway Queens Boulevard should be. "Is it to move traffic east and west from Manhattan, or is it a neighborhood road?" asked the assemblyman rhetorically. He said a hybrid of the two is just not doable and leaves pedestrians vulnerable.
Regardless of future changes, Chwat said, two more pedestrians lost their lives because the boulevard is still dangerous. "This is one of the deadliest highways in the country," said Chwat. "And I am deeply concerned about the neglect."