Petition Demands Speed Humps In Forest Hills

FOREST HILLS, NY -- A Forest Hills resident is taking it upon himself to curb the "countless" car accidents he says the community has seen over the last two years.

Chris Caballero launched a petition on Change.org, which has since garnered more than 850 signatures, calling on elected officials to install speed humps and stop signs along 72nd Avenue. Caballero told Patch the petition was prompted by a particularly jarring accident earlier this summer that he heard firsthand from his home near the corner of 72nd Avenue and Kessel Street.

"I heard the screams from my bedroom and I jumped out of bed," Caballero said. "I thought someone got killed."

He learned upon looking out his bedroom window that it was a car crash. His neighbor had been driving down 72nd Avenue with her kids when a car driving down Kessel Street ran a stop sign and rammed into their car, Caballero said.

The incident spurred Caballero into action. He typed up the petition in August to the NYC Department of Transportation and District 29 City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, asking for speed humps on Forest Hills streets and stop signs at four-way crossings. Caballero said he hoped such measures would force drivers to slow down and drive more carefully.

"That was really the straw that broke the camels back, but there have been many other accidents prior to that," he said. "We've seen other nasty accidents firsthand along 72nd Avenue, so there's been enough of it to really raise concern."

He claimed in the petition that "reckless speeding" has resulted in at least 10 car accidents throughout the community.

Caballero said ideally he would like to have speed humps placed along 72nd Avenue all the way from Groton Street through Metropolitan Avenue. He said the area "just becomes a speedway" during morning and evening rush hours.

The neighborhood's community board also appears to be taking notice of the problem. Community Board 6 - which covers Forest Hills and Rego Park - brought up speed hump requests to the DOT at its November meeting. District Manager Frank Gulluscio said in the meeting the board would propose two speed humps in Forest Hills but later told Patch he wasn't sure which roads they would be on.

Even if the speed humps aren't on 72nd Avenue, Caballero said he'd be happy with the addition of any speed bumps in the neighborhood to slow cars down.

The DOT did not immediately return requests for comment, but this story will be updated should we hear back.

Lead photo by Chris Caballero. The photo, taken from his bedroom window shows the aftermath of a car crash that happened near his home off 72nd Avenue after one car ran a stop sign.