Every day, over a million students swipe MetroCards at the turnstile, pedal through city streets, or ride a bus between home and school. As students walk those last few blocks towards school, they’re often both greeted and protected by crossing guards. New Yorkers in fluorescent vests create safe passages in hectic city streets, offering both visibility and physical protection for our smallest and youngest.
It’s dangerous wherever cars and pedestrians meet – but especially so when these pedestrians are children. Since 2014, 106 children have been killed by vehicles on our city’s streets, and over a quarter of these children were walking to or from school. Vehicle crashes are the leading cause of injury-related death for children in New York City.
These statistics became incredibly personal for our community in October when 7-year old Kamari Hughes was killed by a reckless driver in Fort Greene. Brooklyn Prospect Elementary School – where Kamari was a student – has a saying, “One forest, many trees.” While neither of us ever met Kamari, we know his branches bore the sweetest fruit and hosted the most beautiful birds. The preventable death of this child tore a monumental hole in each of our hearts. We’re devastated every time we think of his mother, only an arm’s reach away from Kamari as he rode his scooter on his way to school. We’re horrified when we think of the dozens of other children that saw the NYPD tow truck hit him.
Kamari was killed on Myrtle Avenue, in a crosswalk where a crossing guard used to guide all of the children walking to school. There was no crossing guard that morning to protect or guide Kamari. In the immediate weeks following Kamari’s death, traffic agents acting as crossing guards suddenly appeared on several long-empty corners. At Kamari’s funeral, we were told that these new agents popping up everywhere were permanent. They have since disappeared.
It’s not an accident that there’s no…
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