Just after 1:00 1 p.m. on Monday, a 69-year-old male was struck and killed by a Peterbilt truck while crossing near the congested intersection of East Fordham Road and Southern Boulevard.
According to the NYPD, Lawrence Carrara of the Bronx was attempting to cross “in front of the vehicle … outside of any marked crosswalk.”
Police confirmed that the truck driver, a 38-year-old male who remained on the scene, has not been charged at this point. The investigation is ongoing.
According to NYPD data, Carrara’s death is the second traffic fatality in the 48th Precinct this year. In 2022, there were four.
Overall, New York City saw a modest decrease — down 6.3% — in pedestrian traffic deaths in 2022, down 6.3%, according to a January statement by the city Department of Transportation. The department described these figures as “among the fewest annual pedestrian deaths recorded in history.”
But while the trend is encouraging, city DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement that “the only acceptable number [of traffic deaths] is zero.”
The problem of pedestrian traffic deaths is not unique to New York. At the nationwide level, traffic deaths are reaching new highs, with the Governors Highway Safety Association reporting that 7,485 pedestrians were killed by vehicles in 2021.
Reach Emily Swanson at emily.swanson63@journalism.cuny.edu. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
