Brooklyn's Newest Traffic Lights Mark the Spot Where Local Teen Died

• Pictured: The new lights at Caton Avenue and East 8th Street, near Middle School 839. Photos via Brad Lander/Twitter

KENSINGTON, BROOKLYN — A new set of traffic lights went in Wednesday at the dangerous intersection of Caton Avenue and East 8th Street, just one block from where 14-year-old Mohammad "Naiem" Uddin was killed in 2014 by a hit-and-run driver as he walked home from school.

“It will always be too late for Naiem Uddin, but in the past year and a half, we have done everything we can to honor his memory by making sure all children are safer along Caton Avenue,” New York City Councilmember Brad Lander said at the ribbon-cutting. “Out of this tragedy, our community has come together to rally for better street safety throughout Kensington and Windsor Terrace."

Uddin was reportedly valedictorian of his class at Public School 130, and had begun attending Brooklyn Tech in Fort Greene.

“He was the smartest person I knew,” Uddin's cousin told the New York Daily News after he was killed. “He was an incredible person. He was loved by everyone. I just can’t believe this happened."

In the time since Uddin's awful death at just 14 years old, city officials have finished constructing a new middle school — MS 839 — on the corner of East 8th and Caton.

"We have students who travel from across the district, and their safety getting to and from school is incredibly important to us," the school's principal, Michael Perlberg, said Wednesday.

"We hope this traffic light, in conjunction with crossing guards and other resources, will make their travel as safe as possible," Perlberg said.

The Windsor Terrace Food Coop is also located across the street.

Lander used Wednesday's ribbon-cutting to run through all the other safety improvements his office has lobbied into reality along Caton Avenue in recent years. You can track them all online using Lander's interactive Kensington and Windsor Terrace Street Safety Tracker tool.

Kensington resident Lynn Reynolds, then 78, was reportedly charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident after she struck and killed Uddin in 2014. In court, she argued that she mistook the thump of his body hitting her car for the thump of a stray ball flying into the street.

Reynolds was never convicted or sentenced for the hit-and-run, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. Her case is still pending; she's due back in court May 24.