An off-duty police officer died after careening off an exit ramp on the Ed Koch-Queensboro Bridge in the same spot that has produced two other fatalities in the past three years.
An NYPD release states that the 36-year-old victim, Elisa Toro, was driving her 2004 Ford Focus down the exit ramp into Queens Plaza South just before 2 a.m. this morning when she struck the guard rail with the driver's side of her car, which then sent her into a concrete barrier on the passenger's side, throwing the car into a vacant storefront.
Toro was pronounced dead at the scene. It's unclear if speed was a factor in the crash. The Post reports that Toro was a 10-year veteran and worked out of Manhattan's 17th Precinct.
In March of 2011, an allegedly drunk driver lost control of his car at the same spot and ended up on the sidewalk at Queens Plaza South, killing a pedestrian. A week later a similar crash occurred, killing a passenger in the car. Last year a cab flew off the ramp, but no one was injured. In September of this year another pedestrian was killed crossing the road at Queens Plaza South, but that crash appears to be unrelated to the troubles with the exit ramp.
In a statement, DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow ticks off the measures the agency has taken to improve the ramp's safety:
As of 2011, this ramp has been equipped with a large variety of traffic management devices, including three 20 MPH word messages and “sharks teeth” markings on the roadway, 14 yellow and 12 white 36”-by-8” aluminum-backed reflectors, plus another 150 yellow and white prismatic reflectors on the bridge rail uprights, four sets of rumble strips to warn drivers that they are approaching a reduced speed zone and an electronic sign that displays the speed of passing motorists using radar technology.
Solomonow did not say whether the agency is taking immediate steps to further improve the conditions on the ramp.
Two businesses at Queens Plaza South are currently suing the DOT for damages incurred in the crashes, which they say were preventible.
"We have three deaths in three years. There is a pattern here," a resident tells the Post. "It’s obvious that the new angle and the closing of one lane has created this. It’s just tragic that someone had to die.’’
