The accident occurred in a very dangerous area of sunset park in Brooklyn where several people were previously killed in traffic accidents.
33 year old Alejandro Santos was riding a e-bike on Third Avenue near the intersection of 24th Street when he collided with the rear of a flat-truck bed that was unoccupied at the time of the accident. The young man was transported to the hospital with serious injuries to his legs as well as internal injuries. He died later on at the hospital.
The police did not mention if the truck was illegally parked or not at the time of the accident. The elevated Gowanus expressway casts a very dark shadow on the top of third Avenue between 18th street and 54th street reducing visibility for road users. Double parking is common and cars are backing in and out of car wash operations located in the same area.
For years locals and street safety advocates asked for safer infrastructures especially lights but nothing changed until recently and more people died
Over the last 2 years, 6 people died in traffic accidents on Third Avenue. On October 31st a 31 year old nurse died in a bicycle accident on her way back home from the hospital. Two pedestrians were killed in truck accidents in December and July 2019. Two other people were killed in January 2019: a pedestrian was fatally hit by a car and a man riding a e-bike died after he was doored by a car and another car ran over him.
How many people still need to die on Third Avenue for the city to do something about it? According to an op-ed written by New York Senator Zellnor Myrie that was published on Street blog last November, federal funds for road safety improvements including bike lanes in the area were secured more than a decade ago but the DOT only recently started to work on the project.
Read more in Street Blog
Picture of the fatal e-bike accident: courtesy of Google map