Another Pedestrian is Killed on Brooklyn’s Deadly Third Avenue

Photo: Franz Golhen
Photo: Franz Golhen

Speedway-like Third Avenue has claimed another victim — the second this month — as a pedestrian was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver on Monday in Sunset Park.

According to cops, Fernando Trejo, 27, was found lying in the pavement with severe trauma to the body near the intersection of 52nd Street and Third Avenue at around 12:30 a.m. EMS took him to nearby NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where he died on Tuesday. Cops gave no description of the vehicle that struck and killed Trejo before it fled.

“The investigation remains ongoing,” police said.

Trejo lived just a block away from where he was hit.

Crashmapper data shows scores of crashes on Third Avenue since the start of 2017.
Crashmapper data shows scores of crashes on Third Avenue since the start of 2017.

The death comes just 17 days after cyclist Hugo Garcia was killed further north on Third Avenue on New Year’s Day after he was doored by a taxi passenger and then run over by another driver. At the time, Transportation Alternatives’ co-interim director Ellen McDermott called for Third Avenue to be redesigned.

“[It] has not been redesigned to safely accommodate all users regardless of their mode of transport,” she said. “There is no dedicated right of way for people on bikes — just three wide lanes for moving cars and trucks, and one lane for storing them.”

There have been scores of crashes — and three fatalities — along the strip in Sunset Park since January, 2017. Drivers frequently exceed the speed limit, thanks to a roadway that is wide and does not feature design elements — beyond generously timed traffic signals — to suggest it is anything but a highway.

  • Jeff

    Same shit as Meeker Ave up in North Brooklyn–you’d think that when motorists are accommodated with an actual, literal interstate highway up above, the rest of us would get _something_ on the surface level. But no. The area directly underneath of said interstate highway is for vehicle storage, and the roadway flanking it is for high-speed vehicle travel (with additional vehicle storage along the curb just for good measure).

    Pathetic.

  • Danny G

    Amen. Wish they would simply fill in the underside of the highway with warehouse buildings with proper sidewalks. Easily many millions of dollars worth of real estate underneath. Just leave some clearance on the roof so you can do work on the underside of the BQE as needed.

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