Dear Editor:

On June 23, 2023, Ava Conklin, 19, was struck and killed when a driver jumped the curb at the Rockaway Beach Blvd. bus stop at Beach 108th Street. Her family and community here still mourn her loss.

Many residents and elected officials have pointed out the bus stop curb design is a hazard because it juts out into the roadway. After years of requests for guardrails, the DOT declined to put in crash barriers, even temporary ones. In January, DOT advised they would be installing “flexible delineators,” 36” high slim plastic posts, next to the stop, which could would take up to year to put in place.

To me that’s not going to stop anything, much less prevent a future tragedy.

If we can’t have guardrails, traffic barriers, etc., why not this? Why not installing several of those large scale, earth filled planters we see all over Rockaway and Broad Channel? Surely that would fall under someone other than DOT’s jurisdiction to put in. Call it a “beautification project.” One that just happens to absorb, slow down or stop the impact of an oncoming vehicle.

One that just happens to save lives and ends future tragedies. One death is already one too many.

Sincerely,
Dan Guarino