A Manhattan woman was tragically killed after she was struck by a cement truck in Brooklyn early Monday morning. It all happened around 7:10 a.m. on November 9, 2020, as the driver was traveling southbound on Bushwick Avenue near Stanwix Street. The victim, 34-year-old Marketing Executive, Jessica Vollman, was hit after stepping into the street between two parked cars, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim, an Upper West Side resident, was said to have been visiting someone in Brooklyn at the time of the accident.
The unidentified 49-year-old driver remained at the scene and no arrests were made at the time. Video taken from the truck’s dash cam shows the victim coming into the street as the driver swerves before hitting her. Although the driver passed a sobriety test, the investigation is still ongoing. The victim’s father, Michael Vollman, is looking into whether speed played a factor, as one witness is said to have seen the truck zooming by at almost 50 mph. This factor could pose a serious problem for the driver, considering the speed limit on this New York City street is 25 mph.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Vollman family at this time.
Monday’s incident occurred in an industrialized area recently blamed for an uptick in pedestrian and cyclist deaths. According to an article from Streets Blog NYC, Bushwick Avenue has seen 177 crashes since 2019, 12 involving cyclists, 13 involving pedestrians, and 44 involving motorists, all occurring in an eight-block stretch of Brooklyn between Flushing and Myrtle Avenues.
Despite a drop in traffic due to the pandemic and lockdown earlier this year, traffic fatalities have actually risen in New York City. In fact, more than 200 people have died in crashes this year. Experts say without the usual congestion from cars and pedestrians, motorists have been driving at higher speeds. The number of tickets issued for speeding has actually doubled during this time, according to the New York Times.
Motorists must adhere to the rules of the road and that includes following the speed limit in heavily congested areas. In 2014 the speed limit in New York City was changed citywide from 30 mph to 25 mph in order to protect pedestrians.
Common factors that may lead to a pedestrian accident include:
- Use of a crosswalk by the pedestrian
- Distracted driving
- Speeding
- Weather conditions
- Road conditions
- $32,756,156 record-breaking jury verdict for a pedestrian struck by a driver who was impaired by drugs, resulting in massive brain damage and skull fractures, even sending the victim into a coma (this was one of the largest non-medical malpractice verdicts in Long Island history)
- $13,500,000 record-breaking settlement for 24-year-old woman who was struck by a company-owned vehicle and suffered traumatic brain injuries (this was the largest reported settlement of a personal injury case in Suffolk County, New York)
- $12,000,000 settlement for a child who was standing on the sidewalk when two cars collided in an intersection causing one to jump the sidewalk and hit him, resulting in extensive leg injuries.