Rosa Ramirez, 60, Second Person Killed by Motorist on Bruckner Boulevard in a Month
Bruckner Boulevard and Hunts Point Avenue, where hit a hit-and-run motorcyclist killed Rosa Ramirez, got a Vision Zero redesign. But it’s still a hostile place to walk. Image: Google Maps
A woman hit Sunday night on Bruckner Boulevard by a motorcyclist who fled the scene was to be removed from life support yesterday. Rosa Ramirez, 60, is the second person in a month killed while walking on Bruckner, a street DOT has identified as in need of Vision Zero safety improvements.
Ramirez sustained a severe head injury when she was struck in a crosswalk at Hunts Point Avenue at around 9:30 p.m., DNAinfo reported. The motorcyclist, driving a red Suzuki, “stopped momentarily to look at her before speeding off,” said NYPD and the victim’s daughter, Roxanna Ramirez.
The day after the crash a social worker at Lincoln Hospital, where Rosa was admitted as a Jane Doe, called Roxanna.
“In a way, I felt relief because I finally found my mother, but in a way, I was scared because what was she doing in a hospital?" the younger Ramirez said.
The daughter raced to the hospital, where she found "my mother lying in that bed attached to all those tubes," Ramirez said. "I immediately fainted."
Ramirez's condition worsened, and she was declared brain dead. Roxanna and her father were preparing to remove Rosa from life support Thursday, DNAinfo reported. Her killer has not been caught.
Bruckner Boulevard, a wide, highway-like road that runs underneath the Bruckner Expressway, is one of the most dangerous streets for walking in the Bronx based on the number of pedestrians killed and severely injured per mile, according to the DOT. Motorists killed three people walking on Bruckner Boulevard, and severely injured 22 pedestrians, between 2009 and 2013.
On March 23, the driver of an oil truck struck 44-year-old Danielle Leathers on Bruckner Boulevard at E. 138th Street with enough force to sever both her legs. Locals interviewed after the crash told the media they don’t feel safe crossing the street where Leathers was killed.
NYPD blamed Leathers for her own death, telling the press she was crossing against the light.
Between 2009 and 2013, motorists killed or severely injured six pedestrians at the intersection where Ramirez was hit, and killed or severely injured three pedestrians at the crossing where Leathers was struck. Both intersections were singled out for redesigns in DOT's Bronx action plan.
DOT made improvements to Bruckner and Hunts Point Avenue after the action plan was released, adding median islands and curb extensions to shorten crossing distances and slow driver turns, in addition to a bikeway segment. But there are still too many vehicle lanes and too much traffic, and conditions remain hostile for people on foot. A follow-up project to connect the Bruckner bikeway to points south, meanwhile, has yet to materialize.
Rosa Ramirez was killed in the 41st Precinct, and in the City Council district represented by Rafael Salamanca Jr.
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