Student calls on village to take safety measures after fatal school bus crash
A Mamaroneck Avenue School student called on the Mamaroneck community to improve safety after a school bus crash killed a mother and her child.
- The constantly changing regulation of the traffic light pattern “exclusive pedestrian phase” had caused concern among parents.
- A number of pedestrian safety changes are coming to busy Mamaroneck Avenue, where Molly Donovan and her son Mikey were struck and killed by a minivan on June 20.
- Traffic engineers from the village and the county negotiated the final agreement on Tuesday, the county’s communications director said.
MAMARONECK – Westchester County and the township on Tuesday approved a new traffic light pattern at the busy intersection where a mother and her 6-year-old son were struck and killed in June.
The pattern, called “exclusive pedestrian phase,” will see traffic in all directions halted while pedestrians alone have access to the crosswalks and intersection. Pedestrians will no longer have to compete with vehicles at Mamaroneck Avenue and New Street near Mamaroneck Avenue School, where Molly Murphey Donovan and her son Mikey were killed on June 20 as they crossed the busy road in the crosswalk on their way to school.
Uncertainty after fatal crash: Parents see the district’s possible change to the Mamaroneck Avenue intersection as a “broken promise”
The agreement puts an end to a back and forth that had unsettled some parents.
They thought the plan was finalized at a board of trustees meeting on Aug. 12, when acting town manager Chuck Strome unveiled a series of pedestrian safety measures, including the addition of four school crossing guards. Then came news that a county engineer favored a different traffic light system on county-owned Mamaroneck Avenue that would give pedestrians a seven-second head start before cars can enter the intersection.
Strome said Monday that the pedestrian-only phase was not guaranteed, prompting some parents to condemn the move as a “broken promise.”
The new traffic pattern was restored on Tuesday, Catherine Cioffi, the district’s communications director, announced in an email to USA Today Network New York.
“The county, village and their transportation consultants met this morning and agreed that we will create an exclusive pedestrian zone at the traffic light at the intersection of Mamaroneck Avenue and New Street,” she wrote.
Tuesday’s decision was welcomed by the advocacy group Safe Streets Mamaroneck, which had called for the special rule at eight intersections but only one, the site of the fatal crash, has been enforced. The intersection will also have a school crossing guard, which was not the case the day Donovan and her son were killed.
Coming soon: New traffic light pattern will stop vehicles at site of fatal bus crash in Mamaroneck
Melanie Fernandez of Safe Streets Mamaroneck said, “We are relieved that the county and village have kept their word. They have acted on research and (their) expert recommendations and have prioritized pedestrian safety by phasing in pedestrian-only streets and a school crossing guard on New Street. We await feedback on the remaining intersections our children will cross in 14 days.”
Peter D. Kramer has been a staff writer for 36 years and writes in-depth reports on a wide variety of topics. He recently wrote about an unsolved murder case in Orange County, affordability and development, and breaking news. His review of the Oak Street fire in Yonkers won a national Headliner Award for outstanding news special/feature column. Reach him at [email protected].
