Monday’s Headlines: A Bump In The Bump In The Road Edition

Today’s headlines offer a quick look at the art of slowing down drivers.

Over the weekend, the Daily News introduced us to Boris Maces, a Cypress Hills hero who got so frustrated with car drivers speeding down Miller Avenue — as well as what he believes is the Department of Transportation’s leisurely pace at installing speed humps — that he installed some of his own.

“It’s good for everybody. This street is dangerous,” Maces told the News of his tactical urbanism. “The car every day passes fast, so for me and for everybody, this is good.”

The Daily News coverage was pretty incomplete; the paper should have pointed out that there were nine reported crashes on just two blocks of Miller Avenue last year, though no one was injured. The DOT, which did not respond to the News’ request for comment, would probably have pointed out that there are a lot more dangerous streets than Miller Avenue, though that’s not a very satisfying response to residents.

Just as I was clicking on the News story, I got an email from Friend of Streetsblog, Henry Williams, who lives in Bensonhurst. He was complaining about the same thing, albeit with a lot more urgency: On Sunday morning at around 5 a.m., residents of 64th Street between Bay Parkway and 23rd Avenue were awoken by the sound of smashing metal: a reckless van driver smashed into parked car, sending it onto the sidewalk.

“My two young children play on this street,” Williams wrote. “If this had happened in the daytime, they would have been killed.”

Williams is frustrated because DOT has refused to install a speed bump on the block three times, he said: in 2022, 2023 and earlier this year. The agency cited the fact that drivers rarely exceed 30 miles per hour on the block.

“The speed limit is 25 mph, so a street can be full of law-breaking drivers and still be officially too slow to protect,” added Williams, who has written to DOT Commissioner Flynn and to City Hall. (The van has two speed-camera tickets and a red-light ticket this year alone.)

Williams sent over a video he made from Ring camera footage. Check it out (it’s only a minute):

Streetsblog readers know that we share our neighbors’ frustrations over the pace of speed hump installations. Back in 2022, I landed the Great White Whale: a speed bump in front of a school on Conselyea Street in Brooklyn that was requested made by a resident on July 26, 2010 and only installed in 2022.

I guess some things never change.

In other news:

• Coverage of the City Council’s vote on Thursday to ban horse carriages in Central Park lingered into the weekend. (NY Times)
• New York Magazine followed other outlets’ coverage about how low pay and a subsequent staffing crisis is slowing emergency response times.
• The Tribeca Citizen covered the Mamdani administration’s announcement that it had installed a few hundred red-light cameras (thousands more are needed, the Daily News editorial board said, though, of course, the Post played “what about bike riders” in defending drivers of 3,000-pound cars who decline to stop at reds).
• Why do angry men in cars yell at queer people, women, and… cyclists? (Jesus Urbanist)
• Speaking of angry men, the Daily News had great details on last week’s shooting of one driver by a former cop on the George Washington Bridge.
• The summertime ban on street fairs will continue because of “police overtime.” (Gothamist)
• We mentioned last week that the construction of the new Port Authority Bus Terminal is going to cause commuting hassles. Gothamist had some renderings.
• I may have mentioned that I’m one of the 1,700 readers who will be powering through a marathon reading of “The Power Broker” from Thursday, Nov. 12 through Sunday, Nov. 15 at Judgy Baby in Gowanus. Free tickets are available here. (I’m reading on Friday, Nov. 13 at around 6 — just sayin’.)
• And, in case you missed it, I’m back on the “criminal mischief” beat … with a vengeance! So if you’re covering your plate with Post-It Notes, I’m coming for you: