City Denied Safety Requests At Site Of Fatal Queens Crash

MIDDLE VILLAGE, QUEENS — City transportation officials repeatedly rejected requests for stop signs and speed bumps on the notoriously dangerous Middle Village street where a school bus driver fatally struck an elderly pedestrian Wednesday morning, City Council Member Bob Holden says.

Last year, Holden's office asked the city Department of Transportation to install five speed bumps along 73rd Place — but his spokesperson, Ryan Kelley, says officials have denied all but one of those requests because they didn't meet the agency's "criteria for a speed bump," according to a letter obtained by Patch.

"This general area has seen more than its fair share of accidents, but this one is especially tragic and unfortunate," Holden said in a statement Wednesday. "It seems that simple traffic safety measures could have been performed there for quite some time."

In the letter, dated June 20, 2018, Queens Borough Commissioner Nicole Garcia tells a staffer for Holden's office said curb cuts between 67th Road and 68th Avenue prevented the "safe installation" of speed bumps and that the block between 68th Avenue and 69th Avenue was too short to "provide adequate distance" for drivers to safely slow down to cross a speed bump.

The agency's speed bump criteria dictate the minimum amount of space needed between a speed bump and an intersection and any curb cuts, the DOT website says.

In September, Holden's office also requested a speed bump and a stop sign at the corner of 69th Road, just one block north of the site of the fatal crash Wednesday. The DOT denied both requests, according to Kelley.

He says the agency green-lighted just one of the proposed safety measures: a speed bump between 69th Road and 70th Avenue.

"DOT has studied this location and surrounding intersections for speed humps, stop signs, and traffic signals multiple times over the years and did not find them feasible," Alana Morales, the agency's deputy press secretary, said in a statement.

Morales said the DOT has an active request for a stop sign at 73rd Place and 68th Road and will reevaluate the intersection of 73rd Place and 67th Drive as the agency does after any fatal crash.

Neighbors have long said that 73rd Place, a two-way street that has no traffic signals or stop signs for blocks, is notorious for speeding drivers.

In August, three teenage girls were injured after their car crashed into a utility pole by 73rd Place and Cook Avenue, just four streets down from Wednesday's fatal crash.

Then, on Wednesday, a school bus driver heading south on 73rd Place fatally struck 83-year-old Middle Village resident Bing Nuan Chen while turning left onto 67th Drive, according to police.

EMS pronounced the pedestrian dead on the scene, blocks away from his Middle Village home, police said.

The intersection where Chen died has no traffic controls or marked crosswalks, according to Holden.

"I've been calling for a traffic study of 73 Place and the surrounding area for more than a year and the DOT has not come up with any solutions yet," Holden said. "A full investigation is underway but it seems that simple traffic safety measures could have been performed there for quite some time."

I stopped by the scene of the tragic accident on 73 Place this morning to speak with authorities. Just a heartbreaking situation all around, and I send my condolences to the family during this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/XzKTzzeDKP
— Robert Holden (@BobHoldenNYC) November 6, 2019