Crash-Prone Flatbush Avenue In Prospect Park Gets New Speed Limit

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN — A stretch of Flatbush Avenue running through Prospect Park that has been a frequent site of crashes will get a new speed limit.

The city announced Tuesday that speed limits across nine high-crash roads, including three in Brooklyn, will be reduced by 5 mph. In total, 25 miles of city streets will move slower after crews put up new signs in the next four to six weeks, according to a release.

For Flatbush Avenue, the new 25 mph zone will stretch from Grand Army Plaza at the north end of the park to Empire Boulevard in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, an intersection notorious for crashes.

There have been at least 15 injures this year near the southern end of the .8-mile stretch, where temporary bike lanes were also added this year, according to city data. The year before nearly 30 people were hurt near the intersection.

“Slower speed limits, speed cameras, and increased enforcement will save lives and keep New York City the safest big city in America for the next generation,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said about the reduced speed limits, which also came with an announcement about school zone cameras.

The safety efforts come as the city, including its traffic patterns, rebounds from the coronavirus crisis.

During the pandemic, emptied roadways across New York City became the site of speeding drag racers, which have not seemed to slowed down as traffic returns back to normal.

Speeding tickets have made up more than a quarter of traffic violations so far this year, compared to less than 15 percent of violations the year before. Just in August, cops gave out more than 5,800 speeding tickets across the city.

Other Brooklyn roads getting lower speed limits include about five miles of Shore Parkway Service Road from Bay 8th Street to Plumb Third Street and Dahlgren Place from 86th Street to 92nd Street, both of which will be reduced from 30 to 25 mph.

Some activists have called on de Blasio to take more drastic action to help New York City's streets rebound from the crisis, which has led more people out of public transportation onto the roads in bikes, cars and on foot.

Just recently, a panel convened by the mayor in March to examine how to avoid gridlock wrote him a letter complaining that he still hasn't acknowledged or responded to their recommendations.