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Traffic Changes Made to Intersection of Fatal UWS Crash, DOT Says

By Emily Frost | July 23, 2014 4:54pm
 The DOT changed the signal time at the intersection to give pedestrians more time to cross without having to worry about turning cars. 
Pedestrians Will Have More Time to Cross at Deadly UWS Intersection
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UPPER WEST SIDE — The city improved pedestrian safety conditions Tuesday at a West End Avenue intersection where a woman was struck and killed earlier this month.

Pedestrians now have an eight-second period to cross without worrying about turning vehicles at the West 95th Street corner, where Jean Chambers was fatally struck on July 10, the Department of Transportation said.

Chambers, 61, was hit as she crossed at the crosswalk by the driver of an SUV turning left from West 95th Street onto West End Avenue.

During those eight seconds all vehicles at the intersection will have a red light while pedestrians cross, the DOT said.

It's a change the department has previously made along West End Avenue, though DOT did not say whether it would do the same at additional intersections along the avenue.

Chambers was well-known in the community and often seen slowly walking her two Westies around the neighborhood and in Riverside Park. 

"[Jean was] a role model for all of us who think they have to rush through life to get to where we want to be," said local resident and fellow dog owner Sue Perry. 

The deadly incident shocked a community still reeling from the death six months earlier of 9-year-old Cooper Stock, who was also hit and killed by a driver turning left just two blocks north.

In the wake of Stock's death, the DOT increased the time pedestrians have to cross West End Avenue and West 97th Street without any vehicles from side streets allowed to turn. In January, pedestrians at that intersection were given 12 seconds of lead time to cross before cars were permitted to enter.

According to NYPD data, only one other pedestrian was injured at West End Avenue and West 95th Street between July 1, 2012, and July 15, 2014. 

Not including Stock, four pedestrians were injured at West End Avenue and West 97th Street during the same time period, the data showed.