Week of Mar 9

Her Last Walk

She stepped into the crosswalk at Northern Boulevard and Parsons Boulevard. It was 9:30 p.m. A dark-colored minivan came fast. It hit her. It kept going.

She was 78. She had lived a long life. The city reduced her to a statistic.

EMS rushed her to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital. She did not survive. The driver never stopped. No arrests have been made.

A Street That Kills

Northern Boulevard is one of the deadliest roads in Queens. Advocates have called it the “New Boulevard of Death.” Cars speed. Pedestrians die. The city knows this. It has known for years.

Days earlier, a 94-year-old woman was pinned under a USPS van in Queens. A man and a child were struck in Flushing. This week, the victims of traffic violence were overwhelmingly seniors and children. The pattern is clear.

The City Knew This Would Happen

New York has promised safer streets. Vision Zero was supposed to end deaths like these. Speed cameras have helped, but not enough. “The program has reduced speeding, decreased the number of injuries, and made our streets safer,” said DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. But the deaths keep coming.

Mayor Adams pledged to “double the pace of intersection safety improvements.” But the city moves too slow. The elderly do not have time to wait.

Seniors make up just 7% of the population but account for a disproportionate number of pedestrian deaths. Their bodies break easier. Their reflexes are slower. But the streets do not slow down for them. The numbers do not lie.

How Many More?

A 78-year-old woman died in Queens. A 94-year-old was crushed under a van. A child was hit in Flushing. These are not accidents. They are failures. And they will happen again.

How many more elders must die before the city acts? How many more families must grieve? If we don’t demand change, the next victim is already out there, waiting to be struck.

Take action now. Because if the city won’t protect its elders, who will?

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