A senior cement truck driver struck and killed a cyclist on a notoriously dangerous Borough Park avenue on Wednesday, police said, the latest blot on a precinct where hundreds of people are injured in crashes every year.
According to police, cyclist Edwin Delgado was pedaling southbound on two-way 16th Avenue just south of 49th Street at around 3:50 p.m. when the 68-year-old driver of a cement truck slammed into him, causing severe body trauma.
A video obtained by News12 Brooklyn shows Delgado veering around a double-parked car when he was overtaken by the cement truck driver.
Delgado was taken to Maimonides Medical Center, where he died. The cement truck driver, whose name was not released, remained on the scene and was not immediately charged. Police declined to say if he was speeding along the narrow roadway.
Two-way streets are especially susceptible to danger when car drivers choose to block traffic flow by double-parking. According to city stats mapped by Crash Count, there have been 65 reported crashes on just a short stretch of 16th Avenue between 46th and 51st streets since January 2022. Those crashes injured 21 pedestrians and eight cyclists.
There were 240 reported crashes in Borough Park's 66th Precinct between Jan. 1 and March 8, according to the NYPD. Last year, also according to city stats, 103 cyclists and 205 pedestrians were injured in the cozy confines of the 66.
The precinct is in the top 10 for serious injuries from crashes, despite having no highways.
Delgado's death came at the end of a particularly deadly stretch for New York — he was the seventh fatality in as many days.
Transportation Alternatives, noting the illegal double-parking that led to Delgado's death, called for changes.
"Double-parking can be prevented by accurately pricing curb space to ensure availability, and by building protected bicycle infrastructure," the group said in a statement. "In Borough Park, where Edwin was killed, there is not a single protected bike lane. There is no safe route for cyclists traveling to or through the neighborhood."
Brooklyn Community Board 12 was designated as a Bicycle Priority District back in 2017, yet nothing has changed. As you can see from the Department of Transportation's official bike map, there are no protected bike lanes in the neighborhood, nor any painted lanes:
"Edwin Delgado was killed because the bike network is woefully incomplete," TA's Executive Director Ben Furnas said in a statement. "Drivers have killed so many people on bikes in Borough Park that it was designated a high-risk priority district by the City as far back as 2017. And today, there is still not a single protected bike lane there."
Delgado is the fifth cyclist to be killed this year, up from three over the same period last year, according to the DOT. That's roughly double the average through this time of year since 2013.
