Just look four ways before crossing

The numbers are staggering: 7,733 traffic accidents in New York City. And that’s just for January, according to the New York Police Department.

We’re talking an accident every five minutes that ultimately killed three drivers, five passengers and 11 pedestrians while injuring more than 3,100 more.

In fact, a third of those total accidents injured or killed someone, police said. And what’s to blame? Distracted driving, which investigators actually pinned as the cause of more than 80 percent of those crashes.

At least as far as the 50th Precinct goes, there’s a little more than one car crash per day which, in January, injured 33 people. Thankfully, no one died, but will that always be the case?

Many eyes have turned to one problematic intersection of late where Bailey Avenue meets West 238th Street in Kingsbridge. Many drivers might be quick to share how much there is to see and pay attention to. And curving hills — like what happens with West 238th as it winds its way toward Fort Independence Street — make it near impossible sometimes to take everything in before continuing on through.

That could be dangerous for other drivers. But it could be deadly for pedestrians. Especially during the dinnertime rush.

Yet, if anyone were to ask the city’s transportation department what they might do about this particular intersection, Deb Travis already knows what the response will be: What intersection?

“This is not on their radar,” Travis, chair of Community Board 8’s traffic and transportation committee, shared during a recent meeting. “Bailey Avenue is not on their radar.”

Yet, it should be, Travis said. Hills create all kinds of visibility issues, which could pull the attention of drivers away from what they need to focus on — like other cars, and even more importantly, pedestrians out in the crosswalk.

More often than not, it’s too little too late for many drivers. This particular intersection remained accident-free throughout January, but other spots on Bailey didn’t do as well, police said. Intersections that cross streets like Van Cortlandt Avenue West, or West 230th Street, or just a block away at West 231st Street.

Anxious drivers sitting in traffic during rush hour want to go home after a long day. If a car sped up a hill to make it past a yellow light, what would happen?

Police say it was reckless driving that killed a 28-year-old motorcyclist last year. Hew was trying to pass a vehicle, but was hit when the driver made a left-hand turn without warning.

Ed Green, who also chairs CB8’s public safety committee, says he’s not a traffic investigator. But as far as he’s concerned, the dangers encountered by pedestrians  are the fault of drivers.

“The entire intersection is governed by traffic lights all four ways,” Green said. “If there is a problem, it’s with cars that are turning, and possibly not giving the right-of-way to pedestrians.”

Crossing lights are timed, same as traffic lights. Some streets give pedestrians a head start by letting them out in the crosswalk before changing any of its traffic light for vehicles green. This delayed traffic light aims to prevent a pileup of cars waiting to turn, backing up virtually everyone behind them as well.

“I have had trouble crossing Bailey on the way to work in the morning, on the way home,” Travis said.

Green avoids problems simply because he’s almost never in heavy traffic. Travis spends a lot more time in rush, finding many other drivers simply skip the yielding aspect of driving, and just turn in front of really anyone. That creates a lot of close calls.

And it’s not that this particular neighborhood is problem-free otherwise. Things were very tough around this intersection during the final months of 2021 with a pair of major fires that gutted apartments, businesses, and even killed one resident.

Those homes and businesses have been vacant ever since, but at some point they’ll reopen — and with it will come traffic. Tililá Casa Publica and Cocina would create a number of vehicle obstacles on any given night with a considerable amount of double-parking despite offering its patrons valet service. Since it was damaged by a November fire, nighttime traffic through that intersection has been better. It just won’t always be that way. As those storefronts come back to life, so will the car issues.

Although drivers can typically find some parking, it seems many making their way around in cars simply don’t want to walk. Drivers will double-park and briefly go inside stores to grab a cup of coffee or pick up their takeout.

Yet, a select few will double-park, and then sit down and enjoy a meal.

“I noticed a lady whose car was double-parked, but she was sitting at the table in the restaurant,” one neighbor, Carol Martin, told the traffic committee. Fixing that is easy: enforce the law prohibiting double-parking.

Otherwise, cars need to maneuver around double-parked vehicles while avoiding traffic coming from the opposite direction. Pedestrians — trying to catch the nearby Bx10 or Bx3 buses — might dart out into the street themselves, avoiding the crosswalk, and creating an even more dangerous situation.

While many might want to focus on cars in those situations, Jodie Colon says police have to keep an eye on pedestrians, too. People are so worried about where they must go that they lose focus on where they actually are at that very moment.

“We need to educate people on very basic things,” she said, “like ‘cross on the green, not in between.’”