Brooklyn

Eyes on the Street: Hey Pal, Where’s the Fire?

We're accustomed to the dangerous disrespect shown by NYPD to non-driving commuters, but a tip we received yesterday shows that cops haven't cornered the market on civil servants putting lives at risk. Our reader reports from Union and Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn:

By Brad Aaron

11:30 AM EST on January 7, 2010

We’re accustomed to the dangerous disrespect shown by NYPD to non-driving commuters, but a tip we received yesterday shows that cops haven’t cornered the market on civil servants putting lives at risk. Our reader reports from Union and Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn:

Today, at this known traffic spillover point, the operator of this FDNY vehicle on a non-emergency drive decided to run the red light, thereby blocking the crosswalk and forcing pedestrians into oncoming, high speed traffic.

At least he’ll be present for the call when someone gets run over!

Brad Aaron

Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York's dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.

Brooklyn | Eyes on the Street | Pedestrian safety | Street Safety

Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.