A man died Tuesday night after being struck by a vehicle while crossing Lake Avenue near Clay Avenue on Rochester's northwest side, according to Rochester police. The crash happened around 8 p.m., and investigators believe the man was crossing the street when he was hit. The driver stayed at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation.
Rochester Police Captain Frank Umbrino relayed details of the crash, and as reported by 13WHAM-TV, the victim had not been identified as of Tuesday night.
A Second Fatal Crash in Just Over a Week
Tuesday's death marks the second pedestrian fatality on Lake Avenue in a matter of days. Just eight days earlier, on October 5, another pedestrian was struck and killed near Flower City Park around 8:05 p.m., according to News 8 WROC. The two crashes, occurring at nearly the same hour of night and along the same stretch of roadway, underscore how dangerous this corridor has become for people on foot.
Lake Avenue has carried that grim reputation for years. The roadway has been identified as one of New York State's deadliest per mile, with 10 traffic fatalities recorded across a seven-mile stretch over five years, based on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data cited by the Porter Law Group. The corridor's wide, multi-lane layout and higher speed limits have long been flagged as contributing factors.
Legal Right-of-Way Rules at Play
New York traffic law places specific obligations on both drivers and pedestrians at crossings. Under Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1151, drivers must yield the right-of-way, slowing or stopping if necessary, to pedestrians crossing within marked or unmarked intersection crosswalks when no traffic signal is present, according to Justia. Conversely, Section 1152 requires pedestrians crossing outside of those crosswalks to yield to vehicles already on the roadway, as documented by FindLaw.
This is not the only deadly incident Lake Avenue has seen this year. On May 29, a police pursuit ended in a head-on collision near Seneca Parkway that killed a 38-year-old driver and injured three other occupants, according to the New York State Police.
A Corridor Shaped by Poverty and Car-Free Living
Part of what makes Lake Avenue so hazardous is who relies on it. Nearly half of residents in the census tracts bordering the corridor live in poverty, and more than a third of households don't own a car, according to a September 2021 report from Reconnect Rochester. That reliance on walking and public transit, combined with high vehicle speeds and long gaps between designated crosswalks, compounds the risk for people without cars.
The pattern extends beyond this single street. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer had pushed for $23 million in federal Safe Streets for All funding for Rochester. Countywide, Monroe County logged 14,573 motor vehicle crashes in 2023, the highest total in New York's eight-county Finger Lakes region, according to a crash analysis published by Porter Law Group.
City's Vision Zero Push Continues
Rochester has adopted a Vision Zero strategy.
Whether the strategy will translate into physical changes on Lake Avenue remains to be seen, even as the corridor adds another fatality to its toll. No arrests or citations had been announced in connection with Tuesday's crash, and the victim's identity had not been released.
