Transportation Alternatives Statement on the Death of Brooklyn ADA Sarah Pitts

Early Monday morning, 35-year-old Sarah Pitts, a senior assistant district attorney who served in the office of Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, was killed after she was struck by the driver of a charter bus on Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 

Pitts’ death follows a spate of crashes which resulted in the death of 50-year-old Queens resident Salvador Chairez-Rodriguez, and left cyclists critically injured in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and Soundview in the Bronx. 

 Statement of Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris:

 "On behalf of Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets, we send our deepest condolences to Sarah Pitts’ family, friends and colleagues at the Brooklyn DA's office. Our city continues to fail people who bike. All but one of the fatal crashes which claimed the lives of bicyclists this year took place on streets without protected bike lanes. These crashes could have been prevented, but safety has for too long been secondary to the convenience of drivers in New York City.

We expect better from the mayor of the so-called “fairest big city in America.” After a year which saw cyclist deaths rise to their highest level in two decades, along with a pandemic which has led millions to seek out alternatives to the subway, Mayor de Blasio slashed funding for his own Green Wave plan and Vision Zero program, ignored the recommendations of his own Surface Transportation Advisory Council, and, unlike his global peers, has yet to come up with a plan to prevent catastrophic congestion as the city continues to reopen. 

Just as every cyclist death is a tragedy, every cyclist death is also a policy failure. We demand that Mayor de Blasio build a connected network of protected bike lanes across the five boroughs and aggressively fight for an end to traffic violence in New York City."