February 28–March 5, 2020 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 3
THE BROOKLYN QUEENS
CONNECTOR (BQX) is a
City investment to provide
better points of connection
for communities with limited
transit options.
These public workshops will
provide an opportunity to learn
about and discuss the BQX
planning work that’s been done
to-date, as well as the process
moving forward.
Attend the FINAL Brooklyn
workshop:
March 3
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Bushwick Inlet Park
85 Kent Ave.
6:30 – 8:30 pm
For more information, and to register, visit:
BrooklynQueensConnector.nyc/events
For questions, or to request translation services at this event,
please email: info@brooklynqueensconnector.nyc
I’m still here because
NewYork-Presbyterian
is here.
Raymond came in with an aortic tear.
He left with a new way to live.
That bus is watching you
Bus mounted enforcement cameras coming to B46
Drag race mayhem in Park Slope
RAYMOND
Brooklyn, NY
Survived an aortic tear
ADVANCING EXPERT CARE IN BROOKLYN
By Ben Verde
Brooklyn Paper
The Metropolitan Transportation
Authority will
mount buses along the B46
Select Bus Service line with
cameras that automatically
ticket drivers hogging the
route’s dedicated bus lane,
with aim towards increasing
speeds and stemming the system’s
plummeting ridership
figures.
“We know that well-enforced
bus lanes are a critical
component of bringing
our customers back to the system,”
said Craig Cipriano, acting
Vice President for Buses at
New York City Transit.
Motorists who drive in the
dedicated bus lanes, which
runs eight miles along Malcolm
X Boulevard and Utica
Avenue and serves an average
of 50,000 riders on weekdays,
will receive warnings for a 60-
day grace period which megan
on Feb. 20 — after which
the cameras will begin issuing
fines starting at $50.
Penalties will increase by
$50 for each additional offense
within a yearlong span, with a
maximum penalty of $250.
According to city transit
bigwigs, the cameras are capable
of capturing license plate
information, along with a location
and timestamps. To ensure
the legality and proper
functioning of the system, the
MTA claims their buses will
take multiple shots and are
capable of recording video
as well.
Motorists are allowed to
travel in the bus lane for up
to a block in order to make a
right turn — and the MTA
claims its system is intelligent
enough to ensure only drivers
caught bypassing the first
available turn are ticketed.
The new enforcement program
is already in effect on
the B44 line along Nostrand
Avenue, and the M14 and M15
lines in Manhattan, where the
MTA claims the automated
ticket system has had a dramatic
effect on improving bus
speeds.
Since implementation on
the B44 last fall, the cameras
have issued 902 violations to
offending motorists, and bus
speeds have improved to an
average of 7.3 miles-per-hour
— a 2.8 percent increase. That
speed, however, is still below
the average citywide speed of
8.1 miles per hour.
“What we’ve seen is each
of those routes have made improvements
in bus speeds,”
Cipriano said.
Improving bus speeds is a
key component of the agency’s
“fast forward” program, which
was spearheaded by outgoing
City Transit President Andy
Byford, and aims to modernize
the systems aging infrastructure,
speed up transit, and
attract new riders.
Are you a bus? Then move it!
Photo by Ben Verde
By Aidan Graham
Brooklyn Paper
A six-car pileup in Park
Slope that sent five people to
the hospital on Thursday night
was allegedly caused by an
illegal drag race, according
to first responders and multiple
witnesses.
“They were drag racing,”
said a responding firefighter,
who declined to provide his
name.
Authorities arrived on the
scene near Fifth Avenue just
before midnight to find several
damaged cars scattered
in the street and on the sidewalk
near Fifth Street.
Paramedics took five people
to nearby Methodist Hospital
for treatment of their injuries,
according to a Police
Department spokesman.
Witnesses at the location recounted
the deafening sound
Six cars were involved in the crash.
from the accident.
“There was a super loud
noise and we came outside
and found all these cars,” said
Kelsey Lomonaco, who had
been inside a bar nearby. “It
looked like the people were
really hurt.”
Another passerby recalled
the sound of speeding vehicles
that immediately preceded
the impact.
“They were definitely racing,”
said Elias Mandel. “I just
heard a bunch of cars speeding,
and then a series of loud
bangs.”
Video captured from the
area just before the crash shows
two cars speeding into oncoming
traffic.
This is not the first incident
of drag racing along that
very stretch of Fifth Avenue,
according to one Park Slope
resident who lives near the
crash scene and claimed that
speeding motorists have been
a problem for months.
“This is a long standing
problem, and I want people
to know about it because it’s
dangerous,” said the woman.
“I’ve made several calls to 311
but that didn’t seem to get anywhere.”
An NYPD spokesman could
not confirm that the crash resulted
from illicit racing. No
arrests have yet been made,
and the investigation remains
ongoing.
Photo by Aidan Graham
/www.BrooklynPaper.com
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