Hit on Tillary Street or Flatbush Avenue Extension? A Brooklyn Pedestrian Accident Lawyer Explains Your Rights

Tillary Street and Flatbush Avenue Extension is the spot where the whole borough seems to funnel through at once. Cars come off the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, and the BQE still moving at highway speed, then hit local streets full of people walking to work, to the park, and to the subway. That mix is exactly why so many pedestrians get hurt here.

If you are reading this because you or someone you love was just struck by a car, take a breath. This page walks you through what actually happens next in plain English — no legal jargon, no runaround, and no BS. As a Brooklyn pedestrian accident lawyer, my job is to make a hard week a little clearer.

Why Tillary Street and Flatbush Avenue Extension is so dangerous

This is not bad luck. It is bad geometry. Tillary Street is the funnel point for traffic pouring off two bridges and the highway, and Flatbush Avenue Extension is a wide, fast artery that the city has flagged as one of the deadliest streets in the borough. Roughly 180 crashes happen here every year — a figure that has earned this crossing a reputation as the most dangerous intersection in New York City.

A few things stack the odds against people on foot:

• Highway speed meets a 25 mph street. Drivers coming off the bridges and the BQE do not slow down fast enough for a local road.
• Long, exposed crossings. Wide lanes mean you are in the roadway longer, with less protection.
• Turning drivers. Left and right turns across the crosswalk are a leading way pedestrians get hit, because the driver is watching for cars, not for you.
• Heavy foot traffic. Parks, hotels, courts, and the Brooklyn Bridge walkway put a lot of people on these corners.

The city knows. It has named Flatbush Avenue a Vision Zero priority corridor and made changes at the Brooklyn Bridge approach. That history matters legally: when a corner has a long, documented record of crashes, it helps show that a dangerous condition was known — and sometimes that the city itself shares blame for the design.

The car was moving at bridge speed. You were crossing a city street. New York law does not treat those two things the same.

What the crash data shows at this intersection

You do not have to take our word for how dangerous this corner is. The traffic pattern itself explains most of it: two bridges and a highway all dump their traffic here, and every one of those drivers has to slow from highway speed to a 25 mph street while people are crossing. Here is the picture in one diagram.

Read together, these facts do more than describe a bad corner. A long, documented history of crashes can help show that a dangerous condition was known — which matters when the design of the intersection, not just one driver, played a role in your injury.

Your rights as a pedestrian in New York

New York gives people on foot strong protection — stronger than most drivers realize. A few rules do most of the heavy lifting:

• Drivers must yield in crosswalks. Under state law, drivers have to yield to pedestrians crossing in a marked or unmarked crosswalk. You can read the actual statute, Vehicle & Traffic Law § 1151, for the exact language.
• Every intersection has a crosswalk — even without paint. New York recognizes "unmarked crosswalks" at intersections, so you are crossing legally at the corner whether or not lines are painted, per the state's own pedestrian right-of-way guidance.
• Drivers owe you "due care" everywhere. Even outside a crosswalk, every driver must use due care to avoid hitting you. The New York State DOT summary of pedestrian laws lays this out plainly.

Here is the part people get wrong. Even if you stepped off the curb against the light, the driver is not off the hook. New York uses pure comparative negligence, which means you can still recover money even if you were partly — or mostly — at fault. Your share of the blame just reduces the amount, it does not erase your claim.

Who pays your medical bills after a Brooklyn pedestrian accident

This is usually the first real worry: the bills are piling up and you were not even in a car. The good news is that New York's No-Fault system is built for exactly this situation.

When a car hits you as a pedestrian, the insurance on that car pays your medical bills and part of your lost wages — regardless of who caused the crash. New York requires at least $50,000 of this coverage, and it covers pedestrians, not just people inside the vehicle. You do not need your own car or your own auto insurance to use it.

There is one catch that quietly costs people money: you must file the No-Fault application (form NF-2) within 30 days of the accident. Miss it, and the insurer can deny your bills. The state's Department of Financial Services No-Fault FAQ confirms this short window. It is one of the main reasons not to wait to get help.

And if the driver took off? A hit-and-run does not leave you empty-handed. Report it, get the police report, and you may still recover through MVAIC or a household auto policy.

When you can sue the driver for more

No-Fault covers your bills and some lost wages, but it does not pay for your pain and suffering. To get that, your injury has to cross what New York calls the serious injury threshold — think broken bones, surgery, a significant scar, a brain injury, or a lasting loss of function.

Once you are over that line, you can bring a personal injury claim against the driver for the full picture: pain, future medical care, permanent injury, and the wages you will keep losing. Two deadlines drive this:

• Three years from the accident to sue a private driver in most pedestrian cases.
• Just 90 days to file a Notice of Claim if a government vehicle — an MTA bus, a sanitation or city truck — hit you. That is a hard, early deadline, and missing it can end an otherwise strong case.

Because so much of the traffic here is buses and trucks moving between the bridges, the government-vehicle rules come up often — and that 90-day clock starts the day of the crash.

What is my Brooklyn pedestrian accident case worth?

I will not insult you with a fake number. Honestly, anyone who quotes you a figure before reviewing your records is guessing. What a case is worth turns on a handful of real things:

• How serious your injuries are, and whether they are permanent.
• Your medical bills — the ones you already have and the care you will still need.
• Lost income, now and going forward.
• Pain, limitation, and how the injury changed your daily life.
• How much insurance coverage is actually available to collect.

That last point matters more than people expect. A serious injury with a small policy behind it is a different case than the same injury with a commercial truck's coverage behind it. Part of our job is finding every source of coverage — the driver, an employer, a vehicle owner, sometimes the city.

Mistakes that quietly sink strong claims

• Waiting. Cameras get overwritten and the 30-day No-Fault clock runs whether you act or not.
• Talking to the driver's insurer. A friendly adjuster is still working to pay you less.
• Skipping the doctor. A gap in treatment becomes the insurer's favorite argument.
• Accepting the first offer. Early offers rarely account for future surgery, therapy, or lost work.
• Assuming "my fault" means "no claim." Comparative negligence exists precisely for this.

How a Brooklyn pedestrian accident lawyer helps

Going up against an insurance company on your own is not a fair fight, and it is not meant to be. Here is what changes when you have counsel in your corner:

• We preserve the camera footage and witness accounts before they disappear.
• We handle the No-Fault paperwork and the deadlines so nothing lapses.
• We prove the driver's fault using the evidence this corner leaves behind.
• We deal with the adjusters so you can focus on healing.
• We take pedestrian cases on contingency — you pay nothing unless we recover for you.

Our practice is built around these Brooklyn corridors, and the same approach carries across our Brooklyn car accident work and our broader New York personal injury cases. Whatever hit you here, we know how crashes happen at this corner and what it takes to prove them.

Written & reviewed by

Koenig Pierre, Esq.

Brooklyn Personal Injury & Pedestrian Accident Attorney · Hofstra Law

NY Bar · Admitted 2011

"All you need is wise counsel."

Koenig Pierre is a lifelong New Yorker and Hofstra University School of Law graduate who represents people hurt on Brooklyn's most dangerous streets — including the Tillary Street and Flatbush Avenue Extension corridor. His practice focuses on pedestrian, car, truck, and bus accident cases across the New York metropolitan area, and he is especially well-versed in New York No-Fault, guiding clients from the first insurance form through settlement or trial. He is known for plain talk, hard preparation, and treating every client — whether a case is worth thousands or millions — with the same care.

Pedestrian accidents Car & truck accidents New York No-Fault Kings County Supreme Court Contingency fee — no recovery, no fee

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