To the leadership and officers at the 114th Precinct,

We are writing as parents of small children in the neighborhood. We are alarmed by the dangerous driving on our streets: speeding, red-light running, illegal turns, and cars blocking crosswalks. It’s out of control.

Pushing a stroller to the park or walking a child to school has become a nerve-wracking ordeal, and major crashes have recently confirmed what every parent in the neighborhood already knows: the driving culture in Astoria has become reckless and lawless. One mother in our group keeps a log of incidents she experiences while walking her baby and toddler, and even a short walk typically involves four close calls. Parents have had enough. 

We are asking the 114th Precinct to increase enforcement. 

Astorians see cars speed or run red lights, daily, sometimes in plain sight of a police car. A parent’s first job is to keep their child safe, but we can’t do it without police enforcement. 

In the last five years, enforcement of traffic violations has dropped. Ignoring moving violations gives tacit permission to drivers to continue bad behavior, and every parent has noticed how reckless and aggressive drivers in our neighborhood have become. As long as there are no consequences for driving recklessly, drivers will continue to do it. 

We strongly urge the 114th Precinct to: 

1. Immediately increase enforcement of: speeding, red-light and stop-sign violations, illegal turns, double-parking, and idling or loading in crosswalks. 
2. Act as role models for our drivers by removing police vehicles from crosswalks and sidewalks. A stop in a crosswalk might seem like a minor inconvenience, but it pushes parents juggling strollers and rowdy toddlers into unsafe situations. Every child in every corner of Astoria deserves unobstructed crosswalks and sidewalks. 

To the officers of the 114th Precinct: We know that your job isn’t easy, and is often thankless. You may not live in Astoria, but please, when you’re on the clock, imagine that it is your children, your neighbors, your family that you are protecting. Some of our daycares visited your precinct over the summer, and we saw photos of your officers smiling with the babies and toddlers. These are the children that are crossing Astoria streets every day. 

In February of 2023, a local seven-year old girl was killed by a car. Her life was cut short unfairly soon. We can’t imagine what her parents are going through, nor can we imagine what it was like for the 114 officers who responded to the scene. Since then, many other people have been killed by reckless drivers in Astoria. Unless we change the culture of driving in Astoria and enforce our driving laws, more children will die. Please do what you can to stop this from happening. Our children’s safety isn’t optional. Enough crashes, enough injuries, enough close calls. We need Precinct 114 to act—now, decisively, and visibly—because no child should be killed crossing the street.

Thank you,

Astoria Parents