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"Really dangerous" doesn't tell the whole story. According to the DOT, there are more automobile accidents on Ocean Parkway than any other major thoroughfare in the city. (They sometimes refer to it as Death Boulevard!)
I know all about OP because not only do I have it for an address...but I got hit by a car right in front of my own building by some jack@ss who couldn't be bothered to wait until the light changed in his favor. And he never slowed down after he hit me. By something approaching a miracle, I wasn't injured. Hurt plenty, but not injured.
I'm not sure if this true for the whole borough or just my neighborhood,
but it seems like there are much more lunatic drivers in Brooklyn then
in Queens. Almost everyone is speeding here in Brooklyn, I never have
to worry about incoming cars as much as when I was in Queens.
Maybe the car insurance goes up dramatically for people in Brooklyn as
compare to Queens for a good reason.
The problem with Ocean Parkway is this: when it was originally designed (by Frederick Law Olmsted, incidentally!) it was a 'parkway' in the literal sense: a boulevard lined with trees. Unfortunately, thanks mainly to Robert Moses, it's devolved into little more than a fancy connection between the Belt Parkway and Prospect Park Expressway. So you get a lot of people who drive on it as though it's actually a highway.
There's supposed to be a speed limit on urban thoroughfares, but in the case of Ocean Parkway, it is simply not enforced. That, together with the number of drivers who don't get their licenses legitimately (= clueless as to 'rules of the road'), and that video is the result.
The problem with Ocean Parkway is this: when it was originally designed (by Frederick Law Olmsted, incidentally!) it was a 'parkway' in the literal sense: a boulevard lined with trees. Unfortunately, thanks mainly to Robert Moses, it's devolved into little more than a fancy connection between the Belt Parkway and Prospect Park Expressway. So you get a lot of people who drive on it as though it's actually a highway.
There's supposed to be a speed limit on urban thoroughfares, but in the case of Ocean Parkway, it is simply not enforced. That, together with the number of drivers who don't get their licenses legitimately (= clueless as to 'rules of the road'), and that video is the result.
Same applies with many of the other major multi-median divided streets in the city [Queens Blvd, Woodhaven Blvd, Linden Blvd etc.]. They were all suppose to be highways at one point.
The problem with Ocean Parkway is this: when it was originally designed (by Frederick Law Olmsted, incidentally!) it was a 'parkway' in the literal sense: a boulevard lined with trees. Unfortunately, thanks mainly to Robert Moses, it's devolved into little more than a fancy connection between the Belt Parkway and Prospect Park Expressway. So you get a lot of people who drive on it as though it's actually a highway.
There's supposed to be a speed limit on urban thoroughfares, but in the case of Ocean Parkway, it is simply not enforced. That, together with the number of drivers who don't get their licenses legitimately (= clueless as to 'rules of the road'), and that video is the result.
Bingo. You are exactly right. Moses put in the Prospect Expwy. that goes from the Gowanus/BQE to Ocean Parkway, which makes Ocean Pkwy. in essence a highway with many cross streets and traffic lights.
The other expressway in Brooklyn that is poorly designed is the Jackie Robinson which goes from the VanWyck into East New York. The through traffic eventually ends up on Kings Highway, but it winds through several neighborhoods first.
Moses made some really bad decisions.
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