Bay Parkway: Where Delay Means Death

Mapleton-Midwood (West): Jan 1, 2022 - Jun 4, 2025

Blood on the Asphalt

Three dead. Twelve left with wounds that will not heal. In Mapleton-Midwood (West), these are not just numbers. They are bodies on Bay Parkway, sirens in the night, families broken. In the last twelve months, two people died. Five more suffered injuries so severe they may never walk the same. There were 261 crashes—five a week. Each one a story cut short, as shown by NYC Open Data.

A 61-year-old man tried to cross Bay Parkway. An SUV hit him. He died at the intersection. No warning, no time to run. A 44-year-old man was struck by a truck on Coney Island Avenue. He left the scene unconscious, blood on the street. The city calls these accidents. The families know better.

Leadership: Words and Silence

Local leaders have the power to stop this. They have the power to do nothing. In April, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez stood over the wreckage of another family and called the crash “one of the worst I’ve seen in over 25 years as a prosecutor. It wasn’t an accident. This defendant’s unconscionably dangerous driving wiped out a family.” He called for accountability. But the system let the driver rack up 21 speed camera tickets and five red light tickets before she killed. Her license was suspended. She drove anyway. The law let her.

Gonzalez said, “What is very clear is that she should not have been on the road that day.” The city has tools: speed cameras, lower speed limits, street redesigns. But cameras need Albany’s approval. Speed limits wait for a signature. Streets wait for paint. Delay is deadly.

The Next Step Is Yours

This is not fate. It is policy. Every crash is a choice made by leaders who act—or stall. Every day without change is another family at risk. Call your council member. Demand a 20 mph speed limit. Demand speed cameras that never go dark. Demand streets built for people, not for speed.

Do not wait for another siren. Act now.