Over 1700 people agree: The intersection at Nassau Avenue and Lorimer Street is dangerous.
The triangular pedestrian crossway in question is the focus of a new Change.org petition to the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT), calling for safety updates to the problematic area.
The petition stems from the tragic accident that occurred in this spot on Sunday, November 8th, when a pickup truck slammed into a 32-year-old mom walking across the so-called pedestrian safety zone at Lorimer Street and Nassau Avenue with her husband and three-year-old son. The truck, which hit the victim, Nikita, from behind, pinned her to a large stone barrier and resulted in severe injuries.
Now, a GoFundMe campaign has raised nearly $80,000 to support Nikita and her family, and friends and neighbors are looking for more solutions to prevent another tragic accident in the same spot.
While the petition itself doesn’t call for any specific action, the petition’s author, Sky Oh, a friend of Nikita’s requests, “Concrete action to make sure no one else gets hurt at this intersection…This petition is to tell The City that this intersection is STILL NOT SAFE, and improvements must be made.”
This isn’t the first time this specific Greenpoint intersection has been cause for concern. A February 2019 study by the city investigating potentially hazardous intersections in North Brooklyn listed the three-way crossing at Nassau and Lorimer as a potential problem spot.
Those who want to share their perspective beyond this petition can also reach out to NYC DOT directly, or call or email elected officials.
This intersection should revert to it’s old traffic pattern. The reason the DOT changed this traffic pattern was to accommodate future pedestrian traffic caused by the pending “L” train closure where the bus would turn up Nassau Ave instead of Bedford Ave so that commuters would not have to cross the street to get onto the G train. This intersection is too marked up with too many traffic lines that is confusing both motorists & pedestrians which is leading to these accidents.
No, it should not. Bedford should be made a fully pedestrian thoroughfare from N12th and above. Then the intersection would be safe.