Statement issued by
City Councilmember Brad Lander
Fatal Crash at Church and Ocean
Posted on June 24, 2013
I was truly heartbroken to hear about the fatal crash at Ocean Parkway and Church Avenue, near the entrance to the Prospect Expressway, that took the life of Ngozi Agbim this morning. I have been working with many community advocates to fix that intersection—which we all know to be dangerous—for years. But we are too late to prevent today’s tragedy.
We need to push forward more strongly to improve safety there. Last spring, in the first year of my participatory budgeting program, over 600 neighbors voted to allocate $200,000 to make repairs and safety improvements at that pedestrian crossing. City Department of Transportation and State Department of Transportation are currently working together to put that money to use on a plan that would improve safety at that corner.
I will be convening a meeting with the NYC DOT and the local stakeholders who crafted this project to discuss the status of the proposal, and then we’ll report back on what we’ve learned. This intersection is a top priority and I will continue to urge both the City and State DOT to come to a resolution on changes that will enhance safety and help prevent tragedies like what we saw today.
While pedestrian and traffic fatalities are down in recent years, we have a long way to go, and every death is a wrenching loss. My office is committed to working for street safety improvements, better enforcement, and improved crash investigations -- from Hicks Street to 4th Avenue to Ocean Parkway -- until the day when we reduce traffic deaths to zero.
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Statement issued by
New York State Assemblymember Jim Brennan
Press Release
June 25, 2013
Assembly Member Jim Brennan Calls On City, State
Transportation Agencies and NYPD To Provide Full Report on
Ocean Parkway Traffic Death and Commit TO Safety Improvement
On Monday June
24th, Ngozi Agbim, was struck and fatally killed by a tractor
trailer at the intersection of Ocean Parkway and Church Avenue. Ms. Agbim was 73 years old and lived on Buckingham Road. The intersection has long been viewed as
dangerous.
Following Ms.
Agbim’s tragic death, Assembly Member Jim Brennan (D-Bklyn) has sent letters to NYC
Department of Transportation Commissioners Janette Sadik-Khan and Joan
McDonald, along with NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, asking that they conduct a
full investigation into the accident.
Moreover, Assembly Member Jim Brennan requests that a survey be
conducted at the intersection in question so that operational guidelines for
traffic enforcement purposes can be generated so that tragedies like this one
can be prevented. Letters were sent to
DOT and NYPD to this effect. The letters
also ask for a commitment to public safety.
