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Growing Chorus Demands End To Traffic Fatalities
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jan 26, 2014
Modified Jan 26, 2014
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Gothamist
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jan 26, 2014
Modified Jan 26, 2014
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A vigil to remember the lives lost on New York City's streets this afternoon occurs on the one-year-anniversary of the death of 23-year-old Ella Bandes, who was killed by an MTA bus crossing the street at a treacherous intersection in Bushwick. “In 2014, there have already been 17 deaths as a result of traffic crashes,” Assemblyman Mike Miller says in a release. “This number reflects a new generation of distracted drivers and pedestrians."
The mayor's public commitment to reign in the deaths and a growing sense of urgency as the tragedies continue at an alarming rate have also spurred the city's establishment media into treating people killed in senseless, preventable traffic fatalities like human beings rather than victims of inexorable fate.
The thaw can be seen in even the city's most friendly organ of the car-centric status quo. The New York Post has loudly pointed out the dearth of speeding tickets issued to dangerous drivers and thoroughly documented the NYPD's ham-handed method of keeping pedestrians out of harm's way after an 84-year-old man was violently arrested last week for jaywalking.
The Daily News has replaced incoherent anti-bike lane jeremiads with an ER doctor's testimony on the horrors of traffic-related injuries.
Today the Times has a profile on the family of Sammy Cohen Eckstein, the 12-year-old who was killed by a van while retrieving his soccer ball on Prospect Park West. The piece traces how Sammy's parents, Amy and Gary, and his sister Tamer, have become vocal proponents for safer streets, testifying at city council hearings and buttonholing their neighbor, Senator Charles Schumer, into discussing the scourge of traffic fatalities.
“What we bring to this is a human face,” Mr. Eckstein said. “People are killed and families are turned inside out. It’s important for people to see this.”
It squares, they feel, with Sammy’s own sensibilities. Often mulling current events, he would express his belief that government should fix big social problems. Walking with friends, he would recite statistics about how the ice caps were melting. Once Mr. Eckstein was telling him about the limited visibility large trucks gave their drivers. He wondered why trucks couldn’t be designed better. He repeatedly urged his father to drive carefully.
“I feel this would be a tribute to him,” Ms. Cohen said. And something else. She said they do this so other parents won’t have to.
The paper also highlights the life of Pedro Santiago, the 45-year-old deliveryman who was killed by an MTA bus while he was riding his bike in Harlem last week. Santiago took classes at Columbia towards the goal of one day becoming an engineer, and was slated to begin a job as a runner the day after he was killed.
About nine years ago, Peter Soter, then the owner of Morningside Bookshop near Columbia University, noticed a pudgy, good-humored customer who came in every couple of weeks to order books in English and Spanish. “What are you going to do with these books?” Mr. Soter asked. “I’m going to read them,” Mr. Santiago replied. At the time, Mr. Santiago did not speak English well, but Mr. Soter was so impressed that he offered him a job, sweeping, delivering books, sometimes helping customers.
“After working for me for four years, he became like part of the family,” Mr. Soter said. “I trusted him with my kids. When I went on vacation, he fed my cats, watered my plants.”
Santiago was killed when the bus he was passing on the left side overtook him. The driver of the bus was issued a citation, and the investigation is still ongoing.
The uncle of 9-year-old Cooper Stock, who was killed on the Upper West Side by a cab driver who failed to yield, also argues in the Times that reckless driving should be treated like drunk driving.
Alex Shear, the 73-year-old kitsch collector who was killed by a tour bus on 96th Street two weeks ago, also has an obituary in the Times.
The vigil in Bushwick at 4:30 p.m. is being held at the intersection of Wycoff, Palmetto, and Myrtle Avenues. Bandes family has urged the DOT to improve safety at the spot of her death, yet no changes have been made to date.
“Ella was my daughter, my best friend, my sister, my inspiration, my partner at the ballet and at art shows, my cooking companion, my teacher of all of her discoveries, my movie critic, my political conversant, my pop culture and fashion consultant, my curly hair coach,” Judy Kottick, Bandes' friend says in a release. "Her death was avoidable as the intersection has long been known to be dangerous, and nothing was done about it.”
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Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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