This Central Brooklyn Street Is Among Deadliest In US, Study Says

BROOKLYN, NY — A corridor in Brooklyn has a new, unfortunate honor: it's one of the most dangerous streets in the nation for pedestrians, according to a recent study.

The report, published earlier this year in the Journal of Transport and Land Use, identified dozens of "hot spots" across the U.S. where at least six pedestrians lost their lives between 2001 and 2016, when the most recent federal data was available.

Among the worst spots: Rockaway Avenue between Belmont Avenue and Herkimer Street, where eight people were killed during that 18-year span. The number of fatalities landed the street eighth on the list of 14 New York streets that were identified as hot spots.

The only other Brooklyn corridor to make the list was Brighton Beach Avenue, the study shows.

The rating will likely come as no surprise to residents near Rockaway Avenue. The half-mile stretch between Belmont and Herkimer has been the site of hundreds of crashes in recent years, according to city data recorded in NYC Crash Mapper.

Aside from the fatalities, there have been 380 crashes on the roadway since 2011, the first year for which the mapper has recorded data.

In those crashes, 27 cyclists, 114 pedestrians and 450 motorists were hurt, the data shows.

The study on fatalities was conducted by researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Arizona State University and the planning firm Toole Design Group. It was first reported on by Streetsblog, who said it may be "the only attempt to map the U.S. corridors with the highest numbers of pedestrian deaths ever conducted."

Authors found that pedestrian fatalities are "at their highest level in nearly three decades" and make up an increasing share of total traffic deaths.

"To achieve the vision of a future transportation system that produces zero deaths, pedestrian safety must be improved," they wrote.

Almost all of the "hot spots" identified in the study are multi-lane roads, most of which force pedestrians to cross at least five lanes of traffic. Most bordered low-income neighborhoods.

Patch reporter Nick Garber contributed to this report.