Buffalo was struck by a tragedy this past Saturday which, while rare for this particular neighborhood, is all too common elsewhere: two children were struck — one fatally — while walking with their mother along New York State Route 198, also known as the Scajaquada Expressway. This type of crash often takes place on streets without sidewalks. In this case, however, the driver had jumped a curb, crossed a grassy median and struck the children while they were walking on the sidewalk — and this all took place inside of a park.

Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown said, “Like many other residents, I walk in Delaware Park all the time and have been doing so for years,” Brown said. “This is the first time in my memory that anyone has been struck (by a car) in the park. For years, studies have suggested we return this into a parkway setting. I think it makes sense to do that.”

That same day, New York Assemblyman Sean Ryan, who has been a strong advocate for safety along the corridor, called for a reduction to the speed limit on Scajaquada Expressway. Less than 24 hours later, Governor Cuomo directed the state Department of Transportation to immediately lower the speed limit from 50 to 30 miles per hour, and the City public works crews began installing temporary barriers and new guardrails.

This is a tremendously swift and comprehensive response — especially when you consider that the driver has not yet been identified, no charges have yet been filed and there is not yet any indication that speed had been a factor in the crash. But it also makes you wonder why someone had to die before any changes were made to the roadway.

The redesign of Scajaquada Expressway has been discussed for seven years. In April 2014, the New York State Department of Transportation presented preliminary plans for a redesign which included eliminating more than a dozen entrance and exit ramps, adding new pedestrian and bicyclist crossings, and reducing the speed limit to just 40 miles per hour, but many felt that it didn’t go far enough. As noted by Mayor Brown this weekend, because of the expressway’s status as a state road, the City of Buffalo cannot unilaterally implement a speed limit reduction. That must be done by the state DOT, and as many municipalities across the state have noted, that process can often be too difficult or too slow.

Without more details on the cause of this weekend’s crash, it’s impossible to say whether it may have been prevented had the State moved forward with lowering the speed limit ahead of time, or if they had acted sooner on converting Scajaquada Expressway to a city street (or removing the expressway from the park altogether). But one thing is certain: local municipalities often have a better understanding of what the speed limit should be on their roads.