Pedestrian Death Crisis Continues with Killing of Bronx Pedestrian

This year's pedestrian death crisis continued on Monday when a dump truck driver ran over and killed a Bronx senior very close to her home in Co-op City.

According to police, Lola Blair, 76, was crossing Einstein Loop at around 11:45 a.m. when the driver of the several-ton dump truck, who had been driving south on the Hutchinson River Parkway service road turned left onto Einstein Loop and struck her, causing grievous injuries.

She was taken to nearby Jacobi Hospital, where she died. The truck driver left the scene, but later returned.

The NYPD said there were no immediate charges for the failure to exercise care and control of the private dump truck, but the investigation is ongoing.

Einstein Loop has not received any safety treatments since 2007, according to archival photos provided by Google. The Hutchinson River Parkway service road did get some pedestrian safety treatments recently, but only south of the intersection where Monday's crash occurred.

According to the Department of Transportation, 2022 has gotten off to one of the bloodiest starts of any year in the recent era. Through March 2, at least 20 pedestrians were killed by car drivers, part of the overall death toll of 42 — the highest through this point of the year of any year under the Vision Zero initiative.

Last year, the city experienced the most road deaths since 2013 — but this year is even bloodier: