QUEENS — Following a bus crash in Rego Park which sent six people to the hospital and displaced three families in August, the 112th Precinct has been educating drivers traveling on Woodhaven Boulevard about bus lane rules.
On Aug. 24, a driver of a private casino shuttle bus traveling in the bus lane slammed into a home on the corner of Woodhaven Boulevard and 63rd Avenue to avoid crashing into another car, which was trying to make a right turn from the middle lane, officials said.
The car clipped the bus, which swerved away and hit the building leaving a gaping hole in the three-story structure.
Hoping to prevent similar accidents in the future, the 112th Precinct, which covers Forest Hills and Rego Park, along with the nearby 104th and 110th precincts, have launched a 'bus lane educational initiative' along Woodhaven Boulevard, instructing drivers about bus lane rules, police officials said.
“As a result of that [accident] we figured that maybe a lot of people don’t understand the bus lanes [rules]," said Deputy Inspector Judith Harrison, the commanding officer of the 112th Precinct, at a community council meeting Wednesday night.
“So we’ve been handing out flyers, we’ve been handing out leaflets, we’ve been stopping people and just educating them in terms of what the bus lanes mean.”
The bus lanes in the area have been added to both sides of Woodhaven Boulevard earlier this year as part of the Select Bus Service initiative, proposed for the busy thoroughfare.
But they are in effect only Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., according to the Department of Transportation.
Harrison noted that even if the bus lanes are in effect, drivers are allowed to “get in the bus lane to make the right turn,” but they have to make the first right turn available.
“A lot of people don’t know that,” Harrison said. "We are trying to avoid another major accident like that because that could have been horrific and much more dangerous than it was."
Those who drive or park in a bus lane during hours of operation, face fines ranging from $115 to $150, according to the DOT.
