Exclusive: Nearly 100 pedestrians and cyclists hit by cars in Ramapo so far this year
New data released by the town shows that as of September, 97 pedestrians and bicyclists have been struck by vehicles in Ramapo.
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For more than two years, News 12 has been tracking pedestrian and bicyclist crashes in the Town of Ramapo — a troubling trend that’s left several families devastated.
This year alone, News 12 has reported on dozens of people struck, including a 5-year-old hit by a taxi, an 11-year-old seriously injured while riding his bike, and a young girl who died weeks after being hit near Route 306.
New data released by the town shows that as of September, 97 pedestrians and bicyclists have been struck by vehicles in Ramapo, including two fatalities. Last year, there were 153 incidents, three of them deadly.
According to state crash records and U.S. Census data, Ramapo’s rate of pedestrian and bicyclist crashes is higher than in other similarly sized towns in New York, making it one of the more dangerous communities in the region for people walking or biking.
“We cringe when we hear about a serious accident. Our goal is to eliminate those,” said Town Supervisor Michael Specht.
Officials say that while this year’s total is slightly lower than last year, every incident is one too many.
“We like the way the trend is going, they’re down. There is modest improvement. We’re happy to see that but obviously there’s a lot more that needs to be done,” said Specht.
Town response: a five-point safety plan
Specht says the town has launched a five-point safety plan that focuses on education, enforcement, engineering, outreach and infrastructure.
“We’ve done a lot of outreach to educate the public on pedestrian and bike safety,” said Specht. “We’ve done projects, long-term and short-term, sidewalk improvements, things like that, and we’re not going to stop.”
The plan includes new sidewalks, crosswalks, roadway design improvements, and lighting upgrades. Police have also stepped-up enforcement, and town officials say visibility efforts are making a difference, particularly in Monsey where reflective sashes are being distributed to students and families.
“Many more people are wearing reflector sashes at night. Now it’s the overwhelming majority,” said Specht. “We worked with schools, emphasized this to students, and constantly hand out sashes at public events.”
Federal safety funding and future improvements
Ramapo is also part of the federal Safe Streets for All initiative, which funds engineering studies and roadway design projects aimed at cutting local crashes by half by 2030.
“We have a grant through the Safe Streets for All project that’s designed to reduce accidents by 50% by the year 2030,” said Specht.
The town recently completed a major safety project on Carlton Road and plans similar upgrades in other neighborhoods.
“We are not sitting back and saying we’re done with our job,” said Specht. “There’s a lot more work to do, and we’re hoping a year from now we’ll have even better results to show.”
