BAY RIDGE — In the wake of a serious accident in which two Xaverian High School students were struck by a car and injured while walking home from school, three fellow students have created a campaign to improve safety on local streets.
Katherine Cassidy, Jordan Grimaldi, and Grace Pinco — all seventh graders in Xaverian’s Genesis middle school — have formed a group called Voices for Street Safety to call on the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) to install more street bumps on Bay Ridge streets and to establish an education program on the dangers of speeding.
The group organized a petition drive on Change.org, garnering more than 1,350 signatures.
The students took action after two 16-year-old girls who are Xaverian students were critically injured after being hit by a car that drove on a sidewalk.
The victims were transported by ambulance to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn.
More than a month after the incident, one of the victims remains hospitalized, family friends told The Tablet. The other victim has since returned to school.
The police did not release the names of the victims or the driver’s name.
The incident propelled Katherine, Jordan, and Grace into action.
“After the accident, I just realized how dangerous our community is,” Grace said. “The three of us started talking about it, and we realized we wanted to do something.
“We came to the conclusion that speed bumps would be the best thing.”
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According to the NYPD, the accident took place on Narrows Avenue and 81st Street, approximately 10 blocks from Xaverian High School, shortly before 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 10. An 18-year-old woman driving a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited on Narrows Avenue collided with a Nissan Sentra whose driver, a 65-year-old woman, was attempting to make a left turn onto 81st Street, police said.
The driver of the Jeep then drove onto the sidewalk on Narrows Avenue, hitting three parked cars and the two teenage victims before coming to a stop, police said.
The accident is under investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad.
Jordan and Katherine, who were walking a short distance behind the two victims, witnessed the accident.
“It was a very scary thing,” Jordan said, adding that it deeply affected her. “It was hard to walk anywhere after that. I hadn’t been back to the scene until a month later.”
Katherine recalled her shock. “I was so sad, and I started to pray,” she said.
The accident left the Xaverian community shocked and saddened, said Anna Simeone, a freshman at Xaverian High School.
“Everyone was so sad, especially because the two girls weren’t even crossing the street. They were on the sidewalk, and a car just came over and hit them. It just really breaks my heart,” she said. “And it’s also very scary, just to know that something like that could happen even when you’re not in the wrong.”
Grace recalled that when classes resumed the Tuesday following the crash (Monday was the Columbus Day holiday), Principal Daniel Sharib asked over the loudspeaker that students pray for the two victims.
“He sounded very upset,” she said.
The three girls behind Voices for Street Safety said they are pleased but not shocked that their petition has garnered more than 1,300 signatures.
“It wasn’t really surprising because we’re in a closely linked community and a lot of people support each other,” Katherine said.
The issue of street safety extends beyond Xaverian High School, according to the petition organizers, who point out that there are several schools in the area, including Fort Hamilton High School, Adelphi Academy, Bay Ridge Prep, P.S. 102, P.S. 185, Bay Ridge Catholic Academy, and St. Patrick Catholic Academy.
There are signs that officials are taking the petition seriously. State Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn) said in a statement that he called on the DOT to conduct a review of the area with an eye toward installing traffic calming measures.
“I am committed to seeing the process through,” he said.