NEW YORK — The site of Sunday's Bronx River Parkway accident that killed 7 was listed as one of the state’s most most-accident prone stretches of road last year.
The stretch was listed in the federally mandated “5 Percent†report filed by the state Department of Transportation, giving the top 5 percent of roads with the highest rate of serious accidents. The report noted that the area from the accident scene at the Bronx Zoo, and five miles south to the Cross Bronx Expressway, needed $8 million in repairs to eliminate a hazardous limited stopping sight distance on the southbound side.
Three bridges along the stretch were to be replaced in a project to be started in 2016.
Nearby southbound stretches of the Bronx River Parkway also appear on the list, including the area around Gun Hill Road to the north and 174th Street to the south
In Sunday's accident, an out-of-control SUV careered across several lanes of traffic on the Bronx River Parkway, then plunged more than 50 feet into a ravine on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo, killing all seven family members aboard, authorities said.
The 2004 Honda Pilot apparently flipped over a 4-foot-high iron fence before landing upside-down in the ravine. The cause of the crash was unclear, and police said they didn’t know how fast the SUV was traveling.
The driver was identified by a family friend as Maria Gonzalez, 45. The three children who were killed were her 10-year-old daughter, Jocelyn Gonzalez, and two nieces, Niely Rosario, 7, and Marly Rosario, 3, police said.
The nieces’ mother, Maria Nunez, 39, Gonzalez’s sister, also was killed, as were the sisters’ parents, Jacob Nunez, 85, and Ana Julia Martinez, 81, both of the Dominican Republic.
“I’m very sad,†said Jose Perez, 39, the friend who lives near Gonzalez in the Bronx and spoke to The Journal News at Jacobi Medical Center, where the bodies were taken. “It’s a good family.â€
Maria Gonzalez, a custodial worker at Fordham University, was heading from Astor Avenue, where she picked up the others, to her home on Taylor Avenue in the Bronx, he said.
Source: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Bronx-River-Parkway-Van-Crash-Deaths-Bronx-Zoo-149422645.html
My Words:
It's horrible how 7 lives were lost instantly in just 1 accident.
3 kids, all 10 years old and younger,
2 young adults in their 30s,
and two senior citizens 80+ :C
The news channel that I saw this on said that they were all heading to a restaurant to celebrate her the 10 year old's baptism.
I feel horrible just thinking about what the dad must be feeling right about now :C who only has his oldest son left. :cry: