A Kingsbridge man is urging the city to crack down on speeding along Riverdale Avenue after his car was struck in a hit-and-run for the second time in less than a year.
Julian Echeverri said he walked outside Monday morning to find his vehicle banged up on Riverdale Avenue near Ewen Park — the same stretch where his car was struck last November.
“Crazy — I walk out and the first thing I see is my car with the wheel on the side, like somebody hit it again,” Echeverri said. “People just come driving like crazy they come speeding all the time. I found out I have a couple neighbors that also had the same problem on the same hill and also that it’s been happening the last 20 years.”
Echeverri noted the city added a new traffic light at Riverdale and Greystone avenues this summer amid safety concerns but said more enforcement is needed, including cameras and traffic-calming measures.
NYC District 11 City Council Member Eric Dinowitz said he will ask the city to study additional safety tools along the corridor.
“People are driving a lot faster and more wild,” Dinowitz said. “It takes a combination of human enforcement and automated enforcement to make sure people are slowing down and respecting property and, more importantly, human life.”
The New York City Department of Transportation said speeding is addressed through NYPD enforcement and the city’s speed-camera program. A DOT spokesperson added that speed humps are not feasible on that section of Riverdale Avenue because it has multiple lanes and a bus route.