Greenfield says safety measures needed at fatal car crash corner

December 13, 2012 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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The Bensonhurst intersection where a 62-year-old grandmother was killed in a horrific car crash needs to be made safer by the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT), Councilman David Greenfield said.

“There’s no question traffic calming measures have to be put in there,” Greenfield said, referring to the corner of Quentin Road and West 5th Street, where a woman was killed and seven other people were injured in the Dec. 8 crash.

Chenugor Dao, who was standing on the sidewalk, was struck when the driver of one of the vehicles involved in the crash lost control of the car and plowed into a group of pedestrians. She was rushed to Lutheran Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

The accident involved a Jeep Cherokee traveling eastbound Quentin Road and an Acura MDX heading northbound on West 5th Street, police said. The force of the crash was such that the Jeep Cherokee overturned onto its side, police said.

One local resident told dnainfo.com that the fatal crash was the worst accident he had seen in the 45 years he had lived in the community.

Part of the problem is that the intersection of Quentin Road and West 5th Street contains only stop signs, no traffic lights, according to Greenfield. “It is common for people to run the stop sign,” he said.

Residents living near the intersection told CBS2 News that there have been numerous accidents on the corner.

Greenfield has requested that DOT officials conduct an on-site inspection of the intersection with an eye toward making safety improvements. The councilman said it’s too soon to determine exactly what measures are needed, or whether a speed bump, or a traffic light, should be installed.

In addition, Greenfield said he has reached out to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes and police officials to request a deeper investigation into the deadly crash to determine if there was any criminality involved. “Someone did die in this accident,” he said.