By Bill Parry
The group of senior citizens shuffled across 39th Street in Sunnyside, cautiously looking in all directions as they approached the spot at 43rd Avenue where cyclist Gelasio Reyes was struck and killed by an alleged drunk and unlicensed driver on April 2.
Reyes’ widow, Flor Jimenez, joined the seniors near a memorial for her husband last Friday where City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer demanded immediate action from the Department of Transportation, after a second cyclist, David Nunez, was struck and seriously injured at the same intersection on April 4.
“This is not a Vision Zero success story,” Van Bramer said. “We’ve had one man killed here and now another man is fighting for his life. We need DOT to immediately conduct a serious, comprehensive study. It has to be made safer right away. We can’t wait months or years.”
Members of the Nunez family had planned to join Van Bramer as well, but stayed at Elmhurst Hospital Center. Nunez, 23, was rushed there after he was hit by a truck while making a right turn off of 43rd Avenue onto 39th Street, according to an NYPD spokesman. He was in critical but stable condition with a lacerated spleen and multiple rib fractures, according to sources.
The truck’s driver, Francis O’Brien, 61, remained at the scene and was arrested and charged with failure to yield to a bicyclist and failure to exercise due care, the police spokesman said. The police issued a desk appearance ticket that is returnable July 7, according to the Queens DA’s office.
Reyes, a 32-year-old married father of three, was struck and killed at the same intersection 10 days earlier while riding to his home in Corona after working in Manhattan.
Woodside resident Cristian Guiracocha, 25, was arrested hours later. He was charged with driving under the influence, aggravated unlicensed driving and refusal to take a breath test.
Guiracocha was released on $100,000 bail and is due back in court April 14, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
“We live in a culture where cyclists like Gelacio, and like David, and pedestrians, are invisible to motorists,” Peter Beadle, Jimenez’s attorney, said. People cannot be invisible. These are lives.”
Beadle is also an activist for safe streets as a member of Transportation Alternatives’ Queens Committee.
Van Bramer is calling for a protected bike lane on 43rd Street, from Queens Boulevard to Roosevelt Avenue, along with other safety measure. Thirty-ninth Street is heavily traveled by trucks and other vehicles, and the intersection with 43rd Avenue is just a half block from the Sunnyside Community Services center which has a senior center and a Universal Pre-K.
“There was a time when Queens Boulevard was known as the Boulevard of Death. We changed that,” Beadle said. “Their have been no deaths on Queens Boulevard in two-and-a-half years. That should be replicated here on 43rd Avenue.”
Van Bramer sent a letter to DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, demanding safety improvements begin right away before anyone else gets hurt or killed at the intersection. Transportation Alternatives executive director Paul Steely White joined the call for swift DOT action at the intersection.
“The DOT already has all the tools it needs to prevent deaths and injuries at this intersection and others like it around the city,” White said. “Now that Mayor de Blasio has made additional budgetary commitment to street redesigns, the City needs to move quickly to fix dangerous corridors like 43rd Avenue with protected bike lanes and intersection safety improvements that meet a Vision Zero design standard.”
A spokeswoman for the DOT said the agency would look into safety improvements, but noted the two collisions occurred under very different circumstances, and were likely not caused by the same issues, as the first crash involved an intoxicated driver.
“The April 1st fatal crash was the first traffic fatality at this intersection since at least 2009,” a DOT spokeswoman said. “DOT will study the intersection for potential safety enhancements.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
