Safe Street Activists Call For Better Protections For NYC Bicyclists, Pedestrians

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Hundreds of safe street advocates came to City Hall Park on bikes and on foot Sunday, to remember the lives lost to traffic violence and to call for improved protections for bicyclists and pedestrians.

As WCBS 880's Mike Smeltz reported, Delmer Maldonado was married with kids and was heading home from a night spent with friends.

At Fulton and Chestnut streets in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, as he walked under the elevated J Train, Maldonado and a friend were struck and killed by a driver, who fled the scene.

Maldonado's wife, Millie, shared the pain she has had to go through over the past year since the crash.

"Imagine your home filled with boxes of your partner's entire life; the clothes he wore, yet will never wear again," she said.

Millie Maldonado joined the stage with safety advocates, who are calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to transform paths around the roads to better protect walkers and bikers – so as to ensure that deaths like Maldonado's can be prevented.