Brad Aaron
Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York's dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.
Recent Posts
Years After Death of Ariel Russo, NYPD Chases Still Injuring and Killing People
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Last week Franklin Reyes was sentenced to three to nine years in prison for the death of 4-year-old Ariel Russo. Police pulled Reyes over on W. 89th Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, on June 4, 2013, after he drove his family’s pick-up truck across several lanes to make a turn. As officers walked toward the […]
Hoboken City Council Rejects Bikeway So Motorists Can Double-Park
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Hoboken has abandoned plans to install protected bike lanes on the city’s main drag so drivers may continue to double-park. As Streetsblog reported in 2014, a plan backed by Mayor Dawn Zimmer would have brought a parking-protected bikeway, curb extensions, and bus bulbs to Washington Street. The 8-foot-wide bi-directional bikeway was to run along the […]
DOT: Drivers Injured 1,084 Pedestrians and Cyclists, and Killed 13, in January
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Seventeen people died in New York City traffic in January, and 3,750 were injured, according to DOT’s Vision Zero View crash data map. DOT reported 11 pedestrians and two cyclists killed by city motorists last month, and 1,084 injured, compared to 10 deaths and 1,043 injuries in January 2015. Among the victims of fatal crashes were Andrea Kremen, Rodney Graham, […]
Eric Adams Proposes Downtown Brooklyn Car-Share Fleet for City Agencies
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Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is open to clearing Borough Hall Plaza of parked cars, and he also wants City Hall to study a car-share system for government agencies in Downtown Brooklyn. We reported last November that Adams and his staff resumed using the plaza as a parking lot after an $11 million rehab, following the lead of his predecessor, shameless space hog Marty […]
Truck Driver Kills Maria Minchala, 63, in Washington Heights Crosswalk
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A truck driver killed a woman in a Washington Heights crosswalk Wednesday night — the second pedestrian fatally struck by New York City motorists yesterday. Maria Minchala was crossing at Broadway east to west at W. 165th Street, near New York-Presbyterian Hospital, at around 8:45 p.m. when the driver, turning right onto Broadway, struck her with a flatbed truck, […]
Hit-and-Run Driver Kills 16-Year-Old Girl on 40 MPH Queens Speedway
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A hit-and-run driver killed a teenage girl in Rosedale early Wednesday morning. The 16-year-old victim was crossing Sunrise Highway at Francis Lewis Boulevard in the crosswalk at around 12:15 a.m. when she was hit by the driver of a van, who was traveling east on the highway, according to Gothamist. The Daily News reported that the […]
Vance Drops Right of Way Charge Against Truck Driver Who Killed Senior
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Driver arrested for ” failure to yield to ped”http://t.co/PaZU5zPzZ7 — NYPD Highway (@NYPDHighway) October 11, 2014 Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance dropped a Right of Way Law charge against a truck driver who killed a senior on the Upper East Side. On the afternoon of October 10, 2014, Victor Hernandez hit 86-year-old Peter Romano with a […]
Eyes on the Street: DIY School Zone Traffic-Calming in Corona
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Today Transportation Alternatives staff and members of Families for Safe Streets are in Albany, asking legislators to allow NYC to install speed enforcement cameras near every school in the city. This example of a crossing guard’s efforts to defend school kids in Queens, courtesy of Streetfilms’ Clarence Eckerson Jr., is another good illustration of why the state should lift arbitrary […]
Gwendolyn Booker, Killed by School Bus Driver on Atlantic Avenue Sidewalk
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Another pedestrian was killed on Atlantic Avenue when a motorist struck a woman on the sidewalk. Gwendolyn Booker, 50, was walking on Atlantic near Schenectady Avenue last Friday at around 6:30 p.m. when a school bus driver mounted the curb, according to NYPD and published accounts. From Gothamist: The bus struck two light poles, a gas station, […]
DA Cy Vance Wins Conviction in Washington Heights Hit-and-Run Killing
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A driver charged with fatally striking a man in Washington Heights and leaving the scene was sentenced to prison yesterday. Jesus Fabian pled guilty to evidence tampering in the death of Antonio Ramirez, according to court records and the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance. The crash occurred on Audubon Avenue at W. 176th Street on October […]
Charges Reduced in Manhattan Hit-and-Run Death of Charity Hicks
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Charges have been reduced against a driver who allegedly killed a woman on a Manhattan sidewalk and fled the scene. On May 31, 2014, Thomas Shanley drove a Dodge SUV onto the curb on 10th Avenue near W. 34th Street, striking a pole that fell on Charity Hicks, according to a criminal court complaint and Gothamist. Hicks, […]
Eyes on the Street: The New 215th Step-Street Officially Opens Today
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Over a decade after the project’s first expected delivery date, the reconstruction of Inwood’s 215th Step-Street is complete. West 215th Street crosses the width of Manhattan island’s northernmost neighborhood, from Inwood Hill Park to the Harlem River. Between Park Terrace East and Broadway, W. 215 is a step-street — one of many car-free street segments in Upper Manhattan and other parts of […]