New Years Resolution – Crossing the Boulevard of Death
The New Year is approaching and I’d like to suggest a resolution that follows one of my main tenets of SAFETY FIRST!
Queens Boulevard has been well documented as the BOULEVARD OF DEATH due to dozens of pedestrian fatalities over the years (apparently after claiming 72 lives from 1993-2000). The most recent reported fatality was just before Christmas as reported here on Gothamist on 12/20/07. Sad.
Much has been done by what I assume is the Department of Transportation to prevent this including; staggered and longer walk signs, curbside guardrails, and fencing alongside the BLVD underneath the elevated 7 subway. From what I’ve witnessed though most of the error seems to be pedestrian. The way the traffic patterns have been programmed, there seems to be lulls of traffic before the light changes. The walkway is deemed safe by the naked eye so hordes of pedestrians start crossing. Then seemingly out of nowhere a car comes barreling down, honking loudly and trying to clear the way through the pedestrian walkway and through the yellow light. This happens again and again throughout the day. I bet if I stand outside on a weekday I could get some video proof of this quite easily. The same goes for pedestrians trying to beat the light as well.
So in 2008, please show some patience and wait for the light. And of course, since everything you need to know you learned in Kindergarten: look both ways before crossing. Happy New Year!