NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Eric Adams was in Brooklyn on Monday to call for a new approach to traffic safety after a 3-month-old girl was killed by a wrong-way driver over the weekend.
The Democratic nominee for New York City mayor stood just feet from where a memorial is growing for the infant girl, to promise a renewed focus on safer streets.
“Part of the action must be proactive enforcement,” he said.
He wants dangerous streets to be redesigned, for speed limits to be reduced and for speed cameras to be on 24/7.
Adams also noted that 2021 is on track to be the deadliest year for traffic fatalities since 2014 and stressed that traffic fatalities are becoming as big an issue as shootings.
“Losing a loved one by lead or metal from a car is not any way easier to swallow,” he said.
The 3-month-old girl died after her family was struck by a Honda Civic traveling the wrong way on Gates Avenue in Clinton Hill on Saturday.
On Monday, Adams said that more needs to be done to crack down on reckless drivers, as the car in Saturday’s accident had racked up more than 90 school zone speed camera tickets in the last four years.
“Thirty-five this year alone,” he said. “Those numbers are just horrendous. There's no reason this vehicle was still on our streets.”
Still, Adams’ promise was not enough but it wasn't enough for some activists who interrupted his press conference when a car ran a red light directly in front of where Adams stood.
Meanwhile, an NYPD cruiser had been parked in the middle of a bike lane, forcing cyclists into traffic.
“What we should not do is attack those of us who are on the front lines of this issue,” Adams told the protestors.
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