The day after Ngozi Agbim was run over and killed, Assemblymember Jim Brennan sent a letter on the urgent subject of pedestrian safety to the New York City Department of Transportation. An eighteen-wheel truck had struck Ms. Agbim as she was walking in the northeast crosswalk at Church Avenue where it crosses Ocean Parkway.
In the DOT's response, according to a press release from Assemblymember Brennan, DOT Commissioner Janette
Sadik-Khan agreed to increase the existing leading pedestrian interval
from eight seconds to ten seconds. That gives pedestrians a ten-second
head start in working their way across Ocean Parkway before cars and
trucks in front of them and behind them get a green light.
The DOT letter says the agency's Traffic and Planning Division is working on this "critical safety concern" with the New York State DOT
"to identify safety improvements that are feasible at this intersection. In the meantime, we will modify the signal timing by extending the existing leading pedestrian interval...across Ocean Parkway."
Assemblymember Brennan then suggested to the DOT the possibility of closing the north
(highway) side of the intersection "while other options are being
evaluated."
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Assemblymember Jim Brennan
Assembly District
44
District Offices
416 Seventh Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 788-7221
1414 Cortelyou Road
1414 Cortelyou Road
Brooklyn, NY 11226
(718) 940-0641
