Belt Parkway Accident Lawyer

The Belt Parkway is the name given to a series of connected limited access highways that form a belt-like circle around Brooklyn and Queens in New York City. The Belt Parkway comprises three of the four parkways in what is known as the Belt System: The Shore Parkway, The Southern Parkway and The Laurelton Parkway. The three parkways in the Belt Parkway are a combined 25.29 miles (40.70 km) in length. The Cross Island Parkway makes up the fourth parkway in the system, but is signed separately. No commercial vehicles are allowed on the Belt Parkway.

Drivers are known to speed along the Belt Parkway as they race to get to their destinations quickly and they often times disregard the posted speed limit and weave in and out of traffic, which not only endangers them, but also the other motorists on the Belt.   

On June 24, 2023, two people were killed following a crash on the Belt Parkway in Queens, which left their car split in half, police reported. The unidentified victims were a 29-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man. The tragedy occurred at about 3:45 a.m. when a Dodge Challenger heading west on the Belt struck a Mazda CX5 in the rear. The Dodge, in which both victims were riding, appeared to lose control before striking a pole, according to police on the scene.

April 11, 2023: Two drivers were killed in a wrong-way crash on the Brooklyn Belt Parkway. The crash happened at around 1 a.m. near exit 13. Investigators reported that the driver was traveling the wrong way for a distance of two exits, when he ultimately hit another driver head on — resulting in both of their deaths. Police said the 52-year-old Queens resident was driving a black Infiniti eastbound in the westbound lanes, on the wrong side of the road, at 12:50 a.m. when he sideswiped several vehicles – and then hit a Nissan Sentra head on, causing the deaths of both himself and the other driver. The alleged wrong-way driver and the 79-year-old man he drove into were both pronounced dead at Brookdale Hospital. The sound of crushing metal in the middle of the night startled nearby residents.

“I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t see it, the head-on collision, but from hearing it I knew it was crazy,” a nearby resident said. And the crash shut down traffic down on the westbound side of the highway for several hours. “That’s a dangerous highway, it’s not the first time I’ve heard of situations because sometimes people are speeding, it’s really unfortunate,” a Brooklyn resident was quoted as saying.

On January 30, 2023, a BMW flipped over on the Belt Parkway, killing two passengers inside. Sadly, one of those who was killed was only sixteen years old. The speeding BMW flipped over as the driver failed to navigate a turn on the Queens Belt Parkway overnight, killing both of the drivers’ passengers, according to authorities. Officers  responding to the Belt Parkway crash near 150th Street in South Ozone Park around midnight found the BMW mangled. Both passengers died — a 16-year-old boy at a hospital a short time later and a man in his late teens or early 20s who perished at the scene of the crash. The 19-year-old driver was taken to a hospital and was expected to survive.

November 3, 2022: A New York City man plead guilty with respect to a deadly 92 mile-per-hour crash which occurred while the driver was under the influence of alcohol. A 36-year-old man from Brooklyn who was under the influence of cocaine, marijuana and alcohol at the time of a deadly Belt Parkway crash in 2020 plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter. The vehicle’s operator was driving 92 mph on the Belt Parkway when he struck and killed a 63-year-old motorist who was stopped for a minor accident, the Queens District Attorney said. The driver’s blood alcohol level was .174 — more than twice the legal limit. However, additional toxicology results revealed he also had cocaine and marijuana in his system at the time of the deadly crash.

If you have been injured in an accident on the Belt Parkway due to the negligence of another driver, contact Michael J. Redenburg, Esq., PC at 212-240-9465 to schedule your free, no-obligation, in office consultation and see how we can help get the Wheels of Justice spinning for you!