“Yesterday I was walking home and had to get out at Hunts Point due to trains malfunctioning, and under the Bruckner Expressway, the way traffic flows and how the intersection is designed, it is extremely risky for both pedestrians and drivers. This can lead to higher crash rates, making it more likely to get hit by a bus, truck, or car, which can be fatal.”
To all these victims' families, I feel very sorry and heartbroken about what happened to their loved ones who passed away.
Francisco Garcia, 71, was near the Bruckner Expressway, and suddenly a Kia fatally struck him, and authorities along with paramedics found him dead on the scene as the Kia driver fled the scene before law enforcement had arrived. This justice system is also flawed, as offenders are booked in jails, and then released the next day, making the roads an unsafe place to be day and night, depending on people's schedules. Road rage is also an issue with the safety of drivers and pedestrians, as it can lead to life-threatening situations and can potentially be fatal, which is another issue I will be talking about. I am aiming for awareness of this issue, as this is an everyday conflict especially in New York City, as the population is significantly large, and this also goes for our community safety, addressing everybody within our community as well.
Yesterday I was walking home and had to get out at Hunts Point due to trains malfunctioning, and under the Bruckner Expressway, the way traffic flows and how the intersection is designed, it is extremely risky for both pedestrians and drivers. This can lead to higher crash rates, making it more likely to get hit by a bus, truck, or car, which can be fatal. This situation has been happening due to shorter roads, meanwhile at the same time they are expanding the Bruckner Expressway upper level, creating both benefits and risks when it comes to driving overall. At each traffic light the way people cut off each other would most likely lead to road rage, as I even had witnessed someone getting out of their car with a knife, after the other driver rammed their car, before leaving the scene as well.
New York City is well known for being overpopulated with people, cars, and buses, which often leads to heavy congestion in the five boroughs especially during commute hours. However there have been many frequent conflicts of drivers driving with aggression that leads to accidents, even injuries. There have been many cases of hit-and runs where an irresponsible driver would drive extremely recklessly, and end up hurting someone that is on the road (either another vehicle or a pedestrian) before leaving the scene. This is a serious offense that the government has yet to do anything about, especially in the Bronx. Specifically, the Bruckner Expressway is well known for street racing events, and illegal activity that often leads to harm to another person either way. A lot of road rage also occurs frequently where two drivers would eventually put each other’s life in danger, including everyone who is behind them while driving on the highway.
There are also out of state drivers entering New York with a bad driving record, and they cause many problems within the city due to their negligence of driving. The laws are also not as strict in New York City compared to Westchester County, where offenses can result in losing a lot of points of your driver's license, and potentially can lead to a suspension, making it impossible for that offender to drive again on the road.
Having a stricter law on driving should be considered as this city is heavily congested, and there are a lot of pedestrians and cars throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The FDR is well known for dangerous encounters where racing would be very frequent on those narrow roads, endangering other driver’s safety.
My dad’s friend was driving at night on the FDR; there were two sports cars flooring their engines on these curves which is very risky, and one of them ended up hitting his car, sending him into the guard rail, damaging their car severely to the point that it may be totaled. The front end was completely gone, leaving so many parts on the road. However since this was his work car, and also a Tesla, he had to get it fixed, which then cost him over $15,000. This is basically more money than just declaring the car totaled and sending it to a local scrap yard.
As I see the car parked on the street, it is missing so many pieces after that accident, and his driver door has a major gap. Another encounter that happened was that my dad’s old Toyota Highlander was t-boned by a Toyota Camry going 50 mph on a residential street. It did not stop at the stop sign, my dad stopped at the stop sign, and his view was blocked by a cargo van. When he finally went, that Camry t-boned that car, and upon impact the Highlander suffered from frame damage. That Camry ran a stop sign, and he was also speeding, which then counts as reckless driving as it was in a residential neighborhood. The cops came, and both cars were put to the side, and that Camry driver got away very lightly, as his insurance was on his side.
I mentioned Francisco Garcia earlier. His killer driver might still be on the road driving like a maniac without facing any consequences, or being caught. There was another case where a 51 year old man was also struck by a car, dying on the scene at Longwood Avenue under the Bruckner Expressway, and the driver also fled the scene. These drivers are responsible for keeping other drivers and pedestrians safe especially when having the temptation of driving fast in heavily congested areas, and street crossing areas. There are no problems with having fun with driving your car, but the condition has to be either do it in an empty space such as a race track, or empty roads that do not have anyone actively driving. Hunts Point has an overall reputation of being one of the most dangerous areas to drive or cross the streets, as there are frequent cases of people getting run over, cars getting into wrecks, and road rages, which could be life threatening to either person that is in the situation. Flock cameras should be implemented for catching drivers who fled the scene whenever they hit someone, or cause any harm even though they have multiple debates from both sides of being a privacy invasion, and they are good for tracking down criminals that are roaming and driving around the city across all 5 boroughs, making it easier for cops to get that suspect’s live location after fleeing the crime scene.
However, Zohran Mamdani has recently investigated this case, and is trying to get lawmakers to pass a proposed bill “which could allow prosecutors to charge drivers using drugs that impair driving. It further called for lawmakers to pass legislation, allowing the seizure of license plates from reckless drivers and to establish higher penalties for repeating offenses.” This was under his "Vision Zero" plan to crack down bad drivers that are harming the daily lives of New York City residents. He is also trying to come up with stricter laws that can also cause a high consequence upon reckless driving. Mamdani is also aiming for removing parking spaces at intersections where traffic is notoriously heavily congested during peak hours, making the flow less intense, and offering more safety to both drivers and pedestrians.
Overall, New York City should be seriously held accountable, especially our governor Kathy Hochul as she is mostly pushing for the congestion program where they charge drivers more money, and impound their cars for toll violations rather than actually putting in stricter driving laws, such as penalties based on each offenses as repeating offenders should not be driving on the road at all, and should have their license immediately revoked after their cases of hitting somebody, or crashing into someone and fleeing from the scene. Such drivers are the ones who should not be driving on the roads of New York, or even everywhere in the United States as a whole. Insurance rates are frequently increasing just because of one’s irresponsible actions when it comes to driving, and if one has to do something that destructive they should have not gotten their license from the beginning as they are a danger on public roads, and to people in general.