Man killed by truck near Atlantic and Flatbush avenues; commenters call for increased safety at intersection

Park Slope Patch reports:

A pedestrian was killed after being struck by a tractor trailer while crossing the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues on Wednesday, an NYPD report said.

According to police, a 40-year-old man was crossing in between cars in the intersection near Barclays Center when he was hit by a tractor trailer traveling northbound on Flatbush Avenue at around 12:29 p.m. today, April 3.

The report seems to indicate the pedestrian put himself in danger. Also, I'm told the tractor-trailer had nothing to do with the arena or adjacent tower project. Then again, according to Streetsblog:

One picture seems to indicate that, though the cab has New York plates, the truck is not equipped with crossover mirrors, which are designed to allow drivers of trucks like this one to see what is directly in front of them.

Need for fixes

Still, comments from several different individuals on Patch suggest that something needs to be done about a dangerous intersection, one where several elected officials have asked for an all-pedestrian phase:

It's often necessary to cross between cars in this area because drivers constantly block crosswalks and park where they're not allowed to. So you do that and then find yourself invisible to oncoming traffic. Who knows what happened in this case, but with the lack of NYPD enforcement and drivers' general hostility and basic disregard for the law I'm surprised people aren't killed here every day.

I am always afraid to cross at this intersection and the danger has multiplied with the compression of lanes due to Barclays.

I cross this street everyday. The NYPD is there but at times i notice that they rather chat with themselves than help pedestrians. Also drivers disregard pedestrians and simply don't care. I feel that the NYPD should heavily fine at this intersection. Also the lights can be misleading bc one side will b red and the other still green. Also there isnt enough time for pedestrians to cross. I honestly feel there should be a bridge or an underground passageway into atlantic terminal so that ppl dont cross there at all.