West Village Pol Demands DOT Act after Fatal Pedestrian Crash

The city should review the design of the West Village intersection where a cargo van driver drove the wrong way down a one-way street before killing a pedestrian earlier this month, the area’s Council member has demanded.

Council Member Erik Bottcher (D-West Village) said the crosswalk where 27-year-old Valerie Schoeck was struck and killed has been unsafe for years — and the Department of Transportation knows it.

“This horrific tragedy underscores the urgent need to address longstanding safety issues at this intersection and throughout the surrounding area,” Bottcher wrote in a letter to lame-duck Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “Residents and business owners have reported that wrong-way driving on this stretch of Morton Street has been a recurring problem for years.

“The combination of confusing traffic patterns, limited visibility and heavy pedestrian activity has created a dangerous condition that demands immediate attention,” he added.

Bottcher sent the letter on Monday.

A spokesman for the DOT said that a review had been commissioned as part of standard agency procedure after a fatal collision.

The main issue in the Nov. 6 crash is that the cargo van driver was able to turn left out of a garage on Morton Street even though only a right turn is permissible on the one-way street — a maneuver he made because otherwise he would have had to make multiple right turns to get onto Seventh Avenue South. (Zoom in below to see the angled intersection.)

The driver — a 61-year-old man whose identity has not been released by police — crashed into Schoeck as she crossed Morton Street in a crosswalk immediately after he exited the garage.

Morton Street is a narrow lane and obviously one-way, in the eastbound direction, taking drivers away from the avenue. However, there was no visible sign on the garage’s ground floor at the exit identifying the street as a one-way when Streetsblog visited shortly after the wreck.

DOT records show there have been seven prior crashes resulting in injuries at the intersection over the last five years, none fatal.