Safety advocate blames Central Park redesign for pedestrians death as crashes rise

Advocates are calling for stronger security measures in Central Park after the tragic death of a father of two who suffered traumatic brain injuries when he was hit by a cyclist in the iconic green space.The Central Park Conservancy, in a statement last week after the crash that critically wounded Long Island resident Richie O’Brien, urged city officials to increase enforcement of traffic rules and renewed its calls for a 15 mph speed limit in the park’s drives.But pedestrian safety activists placed the blame on the city Department of Transportation’s “dangerous” redesign of the park’s drives, which make up the 6.03-mile car-free loop around the park.“This is such a tragedy and it didn’t have to happen,” Janet Schroeder, director of the New York City Electric Vehicle Safety Alliance, told The Post Monday.O’Brien, a 41-year-old steamfitter, was walking along the East Drive when he was hit by a cyclist on a regular pedal bike near East 84th Street at around 6:30 a.m.September 23.

He died on Sunday, according to his family.The DOT’s changes to the drives included creating two new one-way lanes for slow and fast-moving bikes, with just a single two-way lane for pedestrians.Previously, the stretch had a walking lane, a bike lane and one or two vehicle paths.Schroeder said the changes turned the drives into “a super highway for deliveristas, Citibikes, speeding bicyclists and illegal e-vehicles.” She demanded that Conservancy President and CEO Betsy Smith resign or be fired for supporting the redesign, accusing the park’s stewards of ignoring warnings from her group.Crashes in the drives have risen about 9% since December 2025, when the DOT said it completed the redesign of the East Drive south of 90th Street and of the West Drive south of 96th Street. Police recorded 51 crashes on the drives from Dec.

1, 2025, through May 31 of this year, compared with 47 during the same stretch the year prior, an increase of four crashes, according to NYP...