A dump truck driver fatally struck a moped-riding delivery worker in Kensington on Thursday morning.
Police responded to the scene just after just after 6:30 am, where they found the 27-year-old male lying dead in the roadway near E. Seventh Street and Caton Avenue, according to police.
Cops remained at the scene while trying to determine whether the worker had been hit by the 8-wheeler, or by a white van, which had driven atop the moped following the crash — but ultimately concluded that the truck had been initially involved in the crash.
The driver remained on the scene, and police conducted a breathalyzer test, but made no arrests. The investigation remains ongoing, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
According to the victim’s roommate, the 27-year-old was an immigrant who had recently started working as a driver for various app-based food delivery services.
According to the open-source data site Crash Mapper, 50 motorists had been killed on roadways throughout the Five Boroughs between January and June of 2020, marking a slight decline from the previous year, which saw 56 deceased drivers.
Brooklyn’s streets saw six motorists fatalities this year, while also suffering 15 pedestrian killings and one cyclist death.
As Mayor Bill de Blasio prepares to leave office, many transportation advocates have lamented the ongoing scourge of traffic-related deaths, and have blasted Hizzoner’s signature Vision Zero initiative, which was ostensibly meant to combat the problem.
Between 2010 and 2020, the Five Boroughs have seen an average of 91.2 motorists killed on city streets each year — without a marked decline in more recent years.
The picture is equally grim for the program’s effect on pedestrian fatalities.
Between 2010 and 2020, an average of 136.6 pedestrians were killed in traffic-related accidents, with the last three years — 2018, 2019, and 2020 — seeing only a slight decline, to 112.6 deaths.
“More people are dying on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s streets because he failed to quickly and aggressively scale the safety solutions of Vision Zero that he knows work — instead just choosing to deliver piecemeal projects and unfulfilled promises,” said Danny Harris of Transportation Alternatives in a statement on the mayor’s program.
Additional reporting by Lloyd Mitchell
