by David Cruz

Elizabeth Quaranta of Bedford Park stared carefully at a large map showing a portion of Mosholu Parkway, a roadway stretch that’s often prone to car accidents and near misses. She placed a tiny sticker symbolizing a picture of pedestrian crosswalk on the area, indicating where an upgrade is needed.

Quaranta, joined by her friend Sheila Sanchez, used those stickers to alert a city Department of Transportation employee that a crosswalk was needed to complement the five man-made paths that lead towards the de facto freeway.

“That’s our biggest crisis,” said Quaranta, head of the Friends of Mosholu Parkland, who referred specifically to median eight. It was there where a 63-year-old woman was killed while crossing the street.

Her needs were heard during a city-sponsored workshop on the Vision Zero Plan, Mayor De Blasio’s ambitious, ten-year plan to reduce traffic fatalities to zero. The plan, carried out by the DOT, is still in the intelligence-gathering stage, where agency officials have fanned out to organize several outreach workshops.

On May 6, DOT officials met at Lehman College with a contingent of community groups, NYPD officers and representatives from elected officials to identify trouble spots along the north Bronx. At one table, a group identified the bustling Fordham and Webster Avenue as a notorious traffic hotspot. Another listed Gun Hill Road and Jerome Avenue. DOT agents jotted the intersections down as a way to determine whether an aggregated consensus develops.

Trends indicate traffic fatalities have decreased, though 280 people around the city were still killed from traffic accidents last year, DOT records show. In the Bronx, 54% of accidents have led to a fatality in 2013.

“We find a lot of times crashes are preventable,” said Eric Miu, a community coordinator with the DOT joined by colleague Lakesha Hawkins.

Miu spent the hour outlining some parameters the DOT takes when easing traffic burdens.

Much of the change include traffic calming measures that appear to be common sense—intersection redesign, reducing the speed limit, and public education for drivers. But the onus should not be a one-way street, as one attendee saw it. Education to pedestrians and cyclists, some of whom blow through red lights or ride without a helmet, are also in need. The recommendations are a response to the traffic culture of the Bronx, where jaywalking Bronxites, aggressive drivers and dodgy cyclists are the order of the day.

“A campaign this scale we want to change a mentality,” said Miu. “We encourage dialogue.”

Another DOT-sponsored workshop is expected to take place at Hostos Community College, 500 Grand Concourse Boulevard, on May 15 at 6:30pm.