Thursday’s Headlines: Unsafe School Streets Edition

A school crossing guard was injured by a drunk driver on Tuesday in Maspeth, Queens — the latest sad reminder of the dangers associated with the job of keeping NYC pupils safe on their walks to and from school.

As Streetsblog’s Jesse Coburn reported earlier this year, drivers struck and injured 73 NYPD school crossing guards from 2012 to 2022. Fewer than one-third of those drivers faced charges for their actions. The driver in Tuesday’s crash was charged with a DUI, according to media reports.

The streets around schools have higher rates of car crash and injuries than other city streets on school mornings and afternoon, Coburn has reported.

DOT’s efforts to make those streets safer aren’t keeping up, despite the agency’s insistence most of the more than 100 redesign projects it implements annually touch school zones. Many hundreds of miles near schools remain untouched, while the Department of Education still refuses to acknowledge the screaming truth from Streetsblog’s reporting: streets near schools are particularly unsafe — and deserve particular attention from policymakers.

In other news:

• A man is fighting for his life after being struck by an SUV driver on Kings Highway in Midwood. Police have so far declined to charge the driver. (amNY)
• City Hall denies allegations it’s halted work on the Underhill Avenue bike boulevard. (Patch)
• Two MTA buses hit by stray bullets in Harlem. (Daily News)
• A truck driver badly injured a cyclist in East New York. (Brooklyn Paper)
• Disabled New Yorkers grapple with pricey Access-A-Ride changes. (Gothamist)
• Justin Brannan wants to build three off-street parking lots for large trucks. (Daily News)
• Gas-powered cars and trucks will be phased out of the city’s massive fleet by 2038. (Daily News)
• We’re not sure what Bill de Blasio did to deserve the tabloid stake-out treatment. (NY Post)
• Calendar alert: CIVITAS’ “Understanding Our Streets Academy” webinar series starts next Tuesday. The first meeting will feature Georges Jacquemart of BFJ Planning. Click here for information.
• The beachcomber: Friend of Streetsblog Aaron Short had a great story about the piping plover in Hell Gate.