BRONX BOROUGH PRESIDENT HOLDS PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS CHILD PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES
The Bronx leads the five boroughs in percentage of children hit by a car

BRONX, NY - Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión held a public meeting to address concerns about the lack of pedestrian safety in the Bronx and, in particular, its deadly effects on children.

According recent statistics, the Borough President and the community have very valid concerns about the high level of pedestrian injuries in the Bronx. Over one third of the pedestrians hit in the last three years in the Bronx are children 14 and under. The Bronx leads the five boroughs with the highest percentage of children hit by a car.

“I am deeply troubled by the statistics presented today. Over the last few years we have seen far too many children injured or killed by cars.  We have to make streets safer.  People should be able to walk to school, church or simply stroll around the city without the fear of being hit by a car.”   

Child pedestrian injuries in the Bronx remain serious problem because of dangerously fast traffic in many locations where children frequent, along a general public resistance to slowing down the traffic. According to the New York City Department of Transportation, 9 out of 10 Bronx children walk to school that’s more than 85 percent, or roughly 255,000, of the approximately 300,000 children in the Bronx aged 5-17 walk to school.
 
The Borough President released a report entitled, “ Is it Safe to Walk to School?,” that examines recent specific incidents involving child pedestrian fatalities and accidents; the statistical trends in pedestrian fatalities in the Bronx; the role of the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) in child pedestrian safety, and recommendations for improving child pedestrian safety. 
 
“In recent years, the NYPD has significantly increased the number of summonses it issues for dangerous and illegal driving in the Bronx. However, Bronx streets can still be much safer. Even with vigorous police enforcement, studies have shown that the only way to create truly safe streets is for the City DOT to redesign them using modern traffic calming devices. Traffic calming, which encompasses a wide variety of inexpensive engineering measures like speed tables and pedestrian refuge islands, has successfully created safer streets around New York City.’ said Carrion.

FINDINGS ABOUT BRONX CHILDREN AND PEDESTRIAN SAFETY

Numerous Bronx Children Have Been Killed, Injured or Threatened with Injury in Recent Years in Pedestrian Accidents

• Last week, a 12- year-old girl was struck and killed by car driven by an off- duty police officer on the Grand Concourse in the University Heights section of the Bronx.
• This past June 2005, a 5-year-old boy was struck and seriously injured by a school bus near Bronx Park.
• Last year in March 2004, a 9-year-old boy run down and killed in front of his school by a dump truck that was illegally using the street as a shortcut in the Edenwald section of the Bronx.
• In October 2004, two boys, 6 and 9 years- olds, were struck by a driver on their way to school in the Wakefield section Bronx, leaving both with shattered legs, cuts and bruises.
• In January of 2002, a reckless driver in the University Heights section of the Bronx swerved to avoid school children and wound up slamming his car into the side of the library.
• In the summer 1998, a 6-year-old girl was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer truck at an intersection in the Hunts Poin section of the Bronx

Bronx Has Lead the Five Boroughs for almost the Last Decade with Highest Percentage of Children Hit by a Car

• Between 2002- 2004, over 34% of pedestrian injuries in the Bronx were for children under 14 years-old. As a result, the Bronx led the five boroughs with the highest percentage of children under 14 hit by a car from 2002- 2004.
• From 1995- 2001, the Bronx lead the five boroughs with the highest percentage of children hit by a car, the number one cause of death for children ages 5-14 in New York City overall. Over one third of the pedestrians hit in the Bronx are children.

851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10451
E-mail: webmail@bronxbp.nyc.gov Tel: (718) 590-3500