Is this Mill Island, or the Daytona 500?
A $400,000 Lamborghini was torn in half after it collided with another car and then slammed into a wall on E. 66th Street, and homeowners on the block say its time the city does something about rampant speeding in the neighborhood.
“I don’t want my kids going outside and walking down E. 66th. I’m afraid they might not come back.” said Michael Yuryev, whose two surveillance cameras recorded footage of the spectacular accident, which he subsequently posted on YouTube. “E. 66th Street is a tragedy waiting to happen, and enough is enough.”
In the video, the Lamborghini can be seen travelling at high speed down E. 66th Street, when the Mazda attempts a left turn and clips the rear end of the sports car, causing the back end to sheer off — sending it spinning down the Mill Island roadway in two halves.
And Yuryev says it isn’t the first time the intersection at Gaylord Drive North has been the scene of an accident.
“People are always speeding down E. 66th Street,” said Yuryev. “There are no traffic lights, no stop signs, and it’s a problem that’s been ongoing many years.”
Paramedics arrived at about 5:15 pm,and found the busted Mazda not far from one of two pieces of the outrageously expensive Italian sports car.
One of the drivers was taken to Brooklyn Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to a Fire Department spokesman, though he would not say whether it was the driver of the Lamborghini or the Mazda.
Since Saturday’s collision, the E. 66th Street resident has been reaching out to Community Board 15, as well as Assemblyman Alan Maisel (D–Canarsie), and Councilman Lew Fidler (D–Canarsie-Flatlands), calling for a traffic study, which he hopes will result in additional stop signs or stop lights being installed on the street.
Until something changes, Yuryev says he’s reluctant to allow his children to walk down E. 66th Street for fear they might be hit by a reckless speedster.
“It’s a quality-of-life matter,” he said.