Watch CBS News

CBS 2 Gets Action In Case Of Troublesome Dyker Heights Speed Bump

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- "It's an accident waiting to happen."

That was the word from residents along one Brooklyn block on Monday. They're worried a newly installed speed bump does anything but make them safer.

In fact, as CBS 2's Don Champion reported, it has some of them asking "whose bright idea was that?"

Towering trees and all, you can't avoid the charm of the Dyker Heights block, but it is what drivers cannot see that has neighbors worried.

"I said I want to meet the genius who did this," resident Bonnie Mathieson said.

Mathieson lives right where crews put in a new speed bump last week, near 71st and Fort Hamilton Parkway. The problem is the sign warning drivers the bump is coming is impossible to see.

"You can't even see it because of the tree," Mathieson said. "There is no point. There is no point."

It only took a matter of a few days for leaves to grow on a nearby tree and neighbors said the problem is only going to get worse.

"The first time I hit it I was like 'wow, a speed bump,'" Manny Cucco said.

"If you don't see it, you're gonna feel it," another driver said.

CBS 2's Champion drove down the block to see for himself. The bump was put in after complaints and an accident involving a child on the normally busy block. But now, one neighbor said he fears what'll happen when an unsuspecting driver comes along.

"If somebody goes a little speedy along here and they don't know that bump is there they're liable to lose control. Then what?" the man said.

But neighbors want a more logical fix. After CBS 2 made calls, there was a change of fortune. A Department of Transportation representative wouldn't go on camera to explain the sign snafu but said crews will now move it.

"Bureaucracy and one hand not knowing what the other hand is doing," one neighbor said.

It's a soon-to-be-resolved "bump in the road" for one neighborhood's push for safety.

CBS 2 asked when exactly the sign will be moved and was told it is among work orders for crews sometime this week.

You May Also Be Interested In These Stories

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.