UPPER WEST SIDE — The area around Columbus Avenue and West 109th Street should be better lit and give pedestrians more time to cross, the NYPD found after reviewing the intersection in the wake of a crash there that killed an 88-year-old woman there earlier this month.
Luisa Rosario, 88, was killed by a taxi driver while crossing West 109th Street at Columbus Avenue at 12:42 a.m. on Nov. 8, authorities said.
While the intersection is not known as particularly dangerous based on data regarding injuries there, visibility and the time Rosario had to cross the street could have played a factor, police found.
From Jan. 1, 2015, to Nov. 8, 2015, there were 11 collisions at that intersection, representing .009 percent of the collisions in the 24th Precinct during that time period, said Capt. Marlon Larin at a community meeting Wednesday.
"We believe that we... would not have been able to predict that that place was prone to a traffic fatality" if not for the incident occurring, he explained.
In Rosario's death, the driver had been working since 9 a.m. the day before but had taken only a few breaks, a spokesman for the Taxi and Limousine Commission said.
The driver, Salifu Abubkar, 73, was charged with a misdemeanor for hitting a pedestrian who had the right of way.
As part of its post-crash plan, officers from the 24th Precinct handed out 154 summonses to drivers at or near the intersection, 64 of which were for moving violations, he said.
"That amount of enforcement activity is pretty significant," Larin said.
During the three days immediately following Rosario's death, officers studied what could be improved at the intersection, finding that the crosswalk lines and the lines near the intersection needed to be repainted.
The precinct also asked the Department of Transportation for more nighttime lighting, Larin noted.
"That corner is particularly dark at that time of night," he said.
The precinct also recommended to the DOT that pedestrians have more time to cross at the intersection.
"We are looking at NYPD’s requests for the location," said a DOT spokeswoman.
Rosario's death marked the only pedestrian death in the precinct so far this year. Last year, eight people who were cycling or walking were killed by drivers within the precinct's boundaries.
