Jumaane Williams Calls for Speed Cams in Wake of Toddler’s Death

City Council Member Jumaane Williams has issued a statement calling for speed cameras and other traffic-calming measures following the death of Denim McLean, the 2-year-old killed by a curb-jumping driver in East Flatbush.

Williams also says more motorists should be held responsible for crashes that result in death.

This incident took place at the corner of Church and Utica Avenues, which has long been a problem area for accidents with pedestrians, even according to the Department of Transportation. I plan to meet with DOT officials in the coming days to discuss safety at this intersection and the Utica Avenue corridor in general. We must push for more traffic calming measures, measures that save lives and improve transportation in the long term. We need speed cameras at this cross-section and throughout this community, and it is my sincere hope that the State Senate will end their obstruction of this effort. While I do not know fully the details of this accident, I do believe that we must work together toward achieving greater accountability of drivers that cause fatal crashes. Finally, we must all exercise much greater caution on the roads. Getting to our destination safely must always be the priority.

There were six pedestrian fatalities in Williams’s district between 2009 and 2011, according to federal data mapped by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. All of the victims were children and seniors. The 67th Precinct, which encompasses much of the district, wrote 45 speeding tickets in 2012, an average of one every eight days.

Speed cameras have overwhelming support among city officials. A proposed demonstration program was included in the State Assembly budget proposal, but was blocked by Marty Golden and Simcha Felder in the Senate. Bronx Senator Jeff Klein has introduced a bill to bring speed cameras to NYC, but Golden says more 20 mph zones will be sufficient to reduce the number of crashes like the one that killed Denim McLean.