Schools across Westchester County have reopened for another school year. Each morning, children sporting back-to-school outfits and fresh haircuts assemble at bus stops, pedal bikes along sidewalks, and navigate busy crosswalks while swapping stories with friends they didn’t see all summer.
Here in the neighboring Sound Shore villages of Mamaroneck and Larchmont, most kids started school Sept. 3. Yet many of us are feeling the absence of two people in our school community who aren’t with us.
On the warm, sunny morning of June 20, Molly Murphey Donovan and her 6-year-old son, Mikey Donovan Volpe, were struck and killed by a school bus while walking within a crosswalk on their way to Mamaroneck Avenue School. Since losing Molly and Mikey, children, parents, teachers and others across our community have grieved for the Donovan and Volpe families. We have also been moved to take action to ensure something like this never happens again — in Mamaroneck, or anyplace else.
What advocacy has accomplished
Within hours of hearing the news about Molly, a successful lawyer and talented interior designer, and Mikey, a bright and curious kindergartner, an advocacy campaign was born. Gripped by heartbreak, incredulity and outrage, the initial mission of our fledgling campaign — Safe Streets Mamaroneck — was to make our streets safer in the 11 weeks we had before the next school year began. Since then, we have been overwhelmed by the response from members of the community.
A petition calling for safer streets was signed by 1,000 people in just two hours; within a few days, 4,000 more added their names. Volunteers have tabled street fairs, attended more than a dozen government meetings, printed and distributed yard signs and stickers and urged officials at all levels of government to listen to their constituents and implement enhanced pedestrian safety measures now.
The response from government has been heartening, too. With assists from State Sen. Shelley Mayer and Assemblyman Steve Otis and their staffs; Deputy Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins; and the Village of Mamaroneck’s Board of Trustees, Interim Village Manager, Traffic Commission and Chief of Police, improvements were implemented throughout the summer.
These changes include adding traffic signs at intersections, extending curbs and creating a small, pedestrian-exclusive segment of the crosswalk at the busy Mamaroneck Avenue-New Street intersection where Molly and Mikey were struck. Crosswalks were repainted bright-white, the speed limit lowered, trees trimmed. More crossing guards were added at key intersections.
To the officials who helped make this happen, thank you. And the sad truth is, it’s not nearly enough. To truly honor Molly and Mikey, and to make our schools safer now and in the years ahead, urgent work remains.
According to a Village of Mamaroneck Traffic Commission presentation which used National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and U.S. Census Bureau data, the town’s traffic fatality rate is 20 per 100,000 people . This includes yet another pedestrian fatality on Mamaroneck Avenue, this one occurring in July 2021, when 44-year-old Mamaroneck day laborer Noe Cortez Duran was killed by a hit-and-run driver. The rate is 10 times higher than New York City’s and twice the worst-performing region — way up in the North Country — in all of New York State. With pedestrian fatalities steadily increasing nationwide since 2009, this is unacceptable.
What needs to come next?
At the village-level, we’ve done much of what we can do. Now, higher levels of government need to step up. Here’s what should happen next:
Government agencies must continue working together to completely reimagine Mamaroneck Avenue. One of the most vibrant, economically important streets in Westchester, it falls short of its potential to be a “ complete street ” — i.e., an even better public space that enables safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities.
Westchester County can do its part by adding pedestrian-exclusive phases to crosswalks at the remaining seven major intersections on Mamaroneck Avenue between Interstate 95 and the Boston Post Road.
New York State can help by reversing its decision to deny traffic-calming rumble strips at the I-95 off-ramps. By slowing cars merging onto Mamaroneck Avenue, these rumble strips would help adjust the driving behavior of other motorists on roads nearby, making for a safer traffic flow.
As our children head to school, let’s remember Molly and Mikey, and Noe before them. Let’s make sure our elected officials keep working to keep Westchester kids safe.
Life is precious. We haven’t a moment to spare.
Peterson-Robles and Fernandez are volunteer organizers at Safe Streets Mamaroneck . Each lives in Larchmont with their school-age children.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: OPINION: With school started, let’s make Westchester's streets safe for kids
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