A clear path of skid marks wraps off the bottom of the hill between Cohancy and Bridgeton Streets off 155th Avenue. Residents say the direction of the one-way street must be reversed. Patricia Adams/The Forum Newsgroup
Following up on inquiries by concerned residents on Bridgeton Street in Howard Beach this week, The Forum was able to document neighbors’ claims that there is a dangerous speeding condition on their street.
Residents say that the flow of traffic from busy Cohancy Street presents them with a very particular problem, because the roadway between Cohancy and the first left turn at Bridgeton, is decidedly sloped downward. They say that people don’t realize how much momentum their vehicle builds up on the hill until it’s too late.
Elisa Capritto is one of the residents on the street who knows firsthand just how dangerous situation is. “We have always been worried about the speeding here,” the young mother said. “My husband forbids our daughter to be anywhere outside the house.” And her fear is well justified; it was about three and a half months ago, according to Elisa, that her husband came out of the house and found her car on the sidewalk outside their house. Struck by a hit and run speeder, the car was hit with such force it wound up on the sidewalk and was rendered a total loss by the insurance company. “We were very lucky that it happened at night – we could have been in the car or someone could have been walking on the street, Capritto said, “It’s so frightening.”
On Wednesday morning shortly before noon, standing on the corner of Bridgeton Street and 155th Avenue at the base of the hill, The Forum counted 42 cars in 10 minutes that made a right turn off Cohancy Street, 29 of them subsequently made a left turn at Bridgeton Street. Out of those 29, 19 drivers made the turn without ever having applied a brake to slow down, 23 out of 29 were absolutely going over the speed limit and out of the six drivers who made the turn at the speed limit or less, only one driver signaled that he was turning.
An organized effort on the street is taking place in the form of a petition which will be circulated with the hopes that the direction of one-way traffic on the street can be changed from the present north-south flow to south-north direction instead. This, residents say, will eliminate the problem. The cars rounding the green light turn at Cohancy and coming down the hill will be on level ground by the time they reach the next left turn at Huron Street instead of hurtling onto Bridgeton Street.
By Patricia Adams
