Another life has been tragically cut short on Roosevelt Avenue, this time in the heart of Woodside’s Little Manila. Early Tuesday morning, a man in his 30s was struck and killed at the intersection of 70th Street and Roosevelt Avenue. This is not just a tragic accident; it’s yet another example of the dangers pedestrians face on this treacherous corridor.
The details are grim but familiar. A pedestrian attempting to cross Roosevelt Avenue was hit by an eastbound van. Despite the driver remaining at the scene and no immediate arrests being made, one glaring fact remains: this death is part of a larger pattern of preventable collisions that plague this thoroughfare.
Roosevelt Avenue is a lifeline for many communities in Queens, but it has also become a deadly one. Its dense mix of cars, trucks, buses, and pedestrians is a recipe for tragedy, exacerbated by insufficient traffic safety measures and inconsistent enforcement. Crossing Roosevelt Avenue should not feel like a life-or-death decision, yet for too many, it is.
Little Manila, vibrant and bustling, deserves better. Communities like Woodside rely on this intersection as a hub of commerce and connection. However, they are also burdened by an infrastructure that seems to prioritize vehicles over human lives. Why do we continue to accept this?
If the city is serious about pedestrian safety, Roosevelt Avenue needs more than piecemeal fixes. We need better lighting, clearer crosswalks, traffic-calming measures, and an active commitment to Vision Zero principles. Enforcement must go hand in hand with infrastructure improvements to ensure drivers understand the grave responsibility they carry every time they get behind the wheel.
Every pedestrian death is a failure of policy and planning. This man—unidentified, his life now reduced to an investigation—is not just a statistic. He represents the countless New Yorkers who navigate this city on foot, trusting that they’ll make it home.
We should not wait for the next tragedy to act. Roosevelt Avenue, and the communities it serves, deserve safer streets now.
