A Brooklyn woman was killed Tuesday night after being struck by a pickup truck driver a short distance from her residence, police reported.
Police say Xiaohong Chen, a 52-year-old Dyker Heights resident, was crossing Bay Ridge Avenue just a few blocks from her home at about 8 p.m. on Jan. 16 when she was struck by the 72-year-old driver of a Dodge Ram pickup truck, which was making a left turn onto Bay Ridge Avenue from 13th Avenue.
EMS transported Chen to Maimonides Medical Center in critical condition, but she could not be saved. The pickup truck driver remained on scene and has not been arrested.
A substantial number of fatal crashes take place when vehicles are turning. Visibility is especially low at intersections like Bay Ridge and 13th, which are designed in such a way that allows drivers to park their cars immediately adjacent to or even in the crosswalk, dramatically reducing visibility for pedestrians and drivers.
The most recent photos of Bay Ridge and 13th Avenues on Google Street View, from June 2022, show cars parked in the crosswalk on both sides of the intersection where Chen was killed Tuesday.
Redesigning such intersections to physically prevent parking in or near intersections is known as “daylighting.” In November, Mayor Eric Adams pledged to daylight 1,000 intersections every year, soon after a 7-year-old boy was killed by a turning NYPD tow truck driver at a non-daylit intersection.
Over the past decade, 12 people have been injured in crashes at Bay Ridge and 13th avenues, including 5 motorists, 4 pedestrians, and 3 cyclists, according to NYC Crash Mapper.
