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Is Bensonhurst Safe For Pedestrians?


by on Aug 16th, 2011

For the second time in a row, a pedestrian safety survey found Florida to be the most dangerous state in the union for pedestrians.

The same survey ranks the New York metropolitan area as one of the safest. Which begs the question, how safe is our neighborhood?

Earlier this year, the Tri-state Transportation Campaign mapped their records of pedestrian fatalities from the years 2007 to 2009, by borough and county, on Google Maps. An isolated map of Bensonhurst is above.

The first thing you need to know about this map is that it’s color coded. Children are green, adults between 16 and 59 years old are blue and seniors over 60 are purple.

As you can see, just about every fatality in Bensonhurst involves a senior citizen, which might be explained by an aging population.

One look at the fatality map for Brooklyn tells me that overall, our area is a pretty safe place to walk. The most pedestrian deaths seem to happen in the central and eastern parts of our borough, with many occurring along Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue.

How do you feel about Bensonhurst drivers? Do you feel safe crossing the street? What’s the most dangerous intersection near you?

 

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  • Grace O’Malley

    As a pedestrian I haven’t had many problems in Bensonhurst but I do have one complaint/warning. 65th STREET IS NOT A RACETRACK! The cars fly down the street so fast that many times they run the lights because they can’t (won’t) stop in time. It is incredibly dangerous. PLEASE for the safety of everyone SLOW DOWN!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Montague-Street/100001639054770 Montague Street

    If drivers slowed down our streets would be a lot safer for everyone. It is the wide sweeping turns at full speed into crosswalks where pedestrians are crossing with the light that are most dangerous. The senior killed at 18th Ave and Bay Ridge Parkway was waiting for the B4 bus hardly age related, exept that the driver was a speeding teenager.

  • Brian H.

    Well, there was the hit-and-run last October on 65th and 20th Avenue. The victim was 25 years old, and the perp was probably (allegedly!) drunk. And this gets a bit into Dyker Heights, but there was that teenager killed last November at 13th Ave and 78th, and a 37-year-old woman was killed in March of last year at Fort Hamilton Parkway and 75th Street (also a hit-and-run, also late enough at night to imply alcohol as a cause, even though they never caught the scumbag who did it). So there’s three fatal accidents just in 2010 – the elderly not involved in any of them.

    I second what Grace has to say about 65th Street. I almost never cross against the light there. It would have to be so late at night that there isn’t another car in sight before I cross against a light there. If it’s late and I see a car in the distance, I just assume they’re drunk and are traveling faster than they should. And even when I do have the right-of-way, I’m careful to keep an evil eye on drivers making turns without checking for pedestrians. More than one driver has gotten an earful from me at that intersection thinking they were going to make a turn into a crowd of pedestrians.