Janet Stillman of the Wallingford Neighborhood Office wrote:
Yesterday another pedestrian was struck and seriously injured at the corner of Meridian Ave. N. and 45th St. The “Walk” signal had just changed, but a driver trying to beat the yellow light, didn’t and ended up running the red light. Last week another pedestrian was struck at the same corner and 2 weeks before another pedestrian was struck. All three pedestrians were taken away in ambulances. 45th and Meridian is a very dangerous corner and pedestrians should be wary because CARS RUN RED LIGHTS!!!
Be careful out there, people.
Gruesome pedestrian/car altercation in NYC, via the NYTimes: http://tinyurl.com/cnmobg Someone got hit, and dragged 17 miles. *shudder* I’m going to be looking twice when I cross the street.
I wonder what it would take to get this upgraded to include a red-light camera. Probably the sign for the camera is enough to stop most red-light-runners.
Thank you for letting us know. I walk everyday w/my seven month old son. We’ll be extra careful now.
I think the problem with this intersection is the difficulty of making left turns from 45th onto Meridian in the absence of a dedicated turn signal. Cars wanting to turn left often pull halfway into the intersection while waiting, but don’t get a chance to turn because of the unbroken line of oncoming traffic. Then they are forced to quickly turn when the light turns red. This is just a recipe for pedestrian accidents. It’s the fault of the design of the intersection, rather than bad driving habits, I suspect. If I’m right, the solution isn’t a red light camera, but a left turn arrow.