It unfortunately took the tragic deaths of Nathan and Raizy Glauber and their prematurely born son Nathan to trigger the alarm, but a six-block stretch of Kent Avenue has now been approved for two new traffic lights, where there currently are none.
The city Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved the installation of traffic signals at the intersections of Kent Avenue and Wilson Street and Kent Avenue and Hooper Street, where the livery cab carrying the Glaubers was plowed into by a speeding driver going north on Kent on March 3.
The driver of the grey BMW, Julio Acevedo, was arrested on March 7 on charges of “leaving the scene of an incident without reporting where death results.”
Nearby residents and local elected officials have described that stretch of Kent Avenue as dangerous and a neighborhood street that has turned into a raceway, due to the absence of traffic calming measures.
“The loss of the Glauber family was tragic and brought great sadness to the community,” said Rabbi David Niederman, Executive Director of United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg said. “By installing traffic signals on Kent Avenue we are helping prevent future tragedies and ensuring the safety of the residents of Brooklyn.”
“The lack of traffic signals had encouraged speeding to take place on Kent Avenue and tragically contributed to the hit-and-run,” added Councilmember Stephen Levin.
The new traffic lights will be installed by November 30.
Similar concerns about speeding by residents in neighboring Greenpoint, where McGuinness Boulevard has been described by Assemblymember Joseph Lentol as “a mile-long, two-way, four-lane street “notorious for its speeding motorists and the injuries and deaths they cause,” are still up in the air, as the DOT has decided to relocate existing speed limit signs instead of installing requested speed cameras.
The speed limit on both McGuinness Boulevard and Kent Avenue is 30 mph.