Boro Park Employee Pleads with CB12 to Do Something About Constant Car Crashes and Traffic Congestion

By Yehudit Garmaise

“Boro Park sees roughly 3.6 crashes per day,” said one local woman who, last week Tuesday, asked Community Board 12 whether its members could “do anything” to reduce the “deep traffic congestion” on which she blamed the neighborhood’s frequent accidents.

“It is a very concerning situation whether you are walking or biking,” she pleaded. “On the days I am not biking, I feel much safer riding the bus, which is very slow.”

The “deep traffic congestion that Boro Park sees on every day but Shabbos,” the woman said, causes excessive noise pollution as well.

“Drivers are constantly creating noise in response to the traffic congestion,” the CB12 meeting participant said. “People lean in on their horns due to the many double-parked vehicles.

 “In addition, there is a constant flow of illegal license plates or cars with no license plates in Boro Park. I want to know what Community Board 12 can do about this situation."

“We will look into it and get back to you,” replied CB12 District Manager Beri Spitzer.

Boro Park, however, is likely no different from most other densely populated neighborhoods with heavy traffic in Brooklyn, such as Flatbush, Williamsburg, and Downtown Brooklyn.

In fact, Brooklyn, unfortunately, is the borough that regularly records, by far, the highest number of motor vehicle collisions that take place citywide. 

Most accidents in Brooklyn occur in densely populated areas with heavy traffic. These include neighborhoods such as Downtown Brooklyn, Flatbush, and Williamsburg.

“Many accidents occur near major roads and intersections, including Atlantic Avenue, Eastern Parkway, and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway,” says Jacoby and Meyers. 

The NYPD also notes frequent accidents on the Brooklyn side of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

Of the ten intersections that the NYPD calls the “most accident-prone in Brooklyn,” only 15th Avenue and Bay Ridge, which is on the neighborhood’s outskirts, is in or near Boro Park. 

Brooklyn residents blame “poorly designed roads and intersections and inadequate parking” for the borough’s congestion.

“Brooklyn’s complex streets, with pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles vying for space, make speeding and reckless driving particularly dangerous,” says Jacoby and Meyers. 

To reduce congestion in the neighborhood, community activists can work with the Department of Transportation to improve Brooklyn’s driving and parking infrastructure.

Drivers who are inattentive, impatient, and aggressive, are also responsible for the 32,788 accidents in Brooklyn in 2022, when Staten Island only saw 5,272 collisions.

The constant use of cell phones, as reported by forbes.com, was the leading cause of collisions in New York City in 2022, when of the 32,788 accidents in Brooklyn, 28,753 of those drivers were found to be paying more attention to their phones than to the road. 

Even more troubling are the statistics that show that “drivers’ dangerous decisions,” such as speeding, driving drunk, and/or driving recklessly, were to blame for a majority of the crashes.