PARK SLOPE — In a victory for pedestrian safety advocates, the speed limit on Prospect Park West has been lowered from 30 to 25 miles per hour.
The city's Department of Transportation reduced the speed limit as a "as a safety measure following an evaluation of the corridor," a DOT spokesman said.
New signs were installed on Friday, to the delight of neighborhood groups like Park Slope Neighbors, which Tweeted a photo of one and wrote, "Great news!...Great step in the right direction!"
City Councilman Brad Lander lauded the change as a "significant start towards preventing another tragedy."
The one-way street, between Grand Army Plaza and Bartel-Pritchard Square, became a focal point for local activists after the death of 12-year-old Sammy Cohen Eckstein, who was killed in October when he was hit by a car at Prospect Park West and Third Street.
His tragic death prompted calls for slower driving on Prospect Park West, and the activist group Right of Way even posted fake 20 mph signs in November to draw attention to the issue.
Momentum around the pedestrian safety issue has since grown and become a citywide concern following the deaths of several other children who were hit by cars. At a neighborhood meeting in December, Cohen Eckstein's parents called for lowering the speed limit across the city to 20 mph.
Their quest for safer streets got a boost last week from Mayor Bill de Blasio, who announced that he's forming a multi-agency "working group" that will implement "Vision Zero," an effort to cut pedestrian deaths to zero over the next decade.
