Niyell McCrorey never turned 14 years old.
As she crossed an Upper West Side street just a few days before her birthday, she was struck by an SUV driver. First responders brought her to the hospital, where she spent a week in the pediatric ICU.
Every day, her mother and father traveled almost an hour on the train just to sit by her side, hoping and praying for a miracle recovery, but Niyell never recovered. She was pronounced dead on November 1, 2024. Her parents never thought they would be burying their daughter so soon. It was the very worst day of their lives — a pain no parent should ever experience.
Their beautiful, intelligent daughter Niyell had a passion for dancing, and she shared her self-taught choreographed dance routines on TikTok. She had dreams of becoming a doctor or lawyer. It’s impossible to understand that she’s gone, and she’ll never graduate high school or go to college. We’ll get older, but Niyell will stay 13.
No parent should ever have to bury their child because someone decided to drive recklessly.
Niyell was her parents’ whole world — but she was only one of 16 children killed on New York City’s streets that year. Sixteen families lost a child, a universe, a hope.
Across New York State, speed-related fatalities have increased sharply in recent years, climbing by more than 30% from 301 deaths in 2019 to 393 in 2022 — even as total crashes declined. Approximately one in three traffic deaths statewide involves speeding. In New York City, repeat speeders are killing our neighbors. Just one year ago, a speeder killed a mother and her two children as they were crossing the street in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood. And this deadly trend is having a disproportionate impact on Black and Hispanic communities.
A recent study from Harvard and Boston University found that Black and Hispanic Americans are much more likely to die in traffic-related crashes, especially as pedestrians. Black Americans experience a pedestrian fatality rate that is 118% higher than white Americans, and Hispanic pedestrians have a rate that is 84% higher than white pedestrians.
We don’t have to accept this reality. We don’t have to accept a world where fatal crashes — many caused by repeat speeders — kill our children, as well as friends and other family members.
It’s time to confront this crisis with technology and innovation, because the status quo strategy of revoking licenses for egregious driving behavior has proven ineffective. We know that 75% of people with a suspended license drive anyway. We need to focus on changing behavior, and speed limiters that prevent excessive speeding by using GPS and predownloaded maps to monitor the maximum speed limit, and slowing the car automatically when a driver attempts to exceed that limit.
There’s legislation at the state level that would require speed limiters in the cars of the worst-of-the-worst repeat super-speeders. This targeted, common-sense measure holds the small number of the most dangerous drivers accountable while protecting responsible motorists (and other road users) from unnecessary burdens. Just as ignition interlock devices helped reduce drunk driving deaths, speed limiters can do the same for speed-related crashes. It gives drivers a second chance to learn safer habits before tragedy strikes again.
Niyell isn’t coming back — but that doesn’t mean we can’t prevent other crashes like the one that killed her. We can make sure that fewer New Yorkers die because of someone else’s reckless driving. We can give judges a tool to protect the public while offering drivers a path back to responsibility.
With speed limiters, we can prevent deadly crashes before they even happen. Every mile per hour matters. Every life does, too.
New York Senator Cordell Cleare represents Harlem and is co-sponsor of the Stop Super Speeders bill. Darnell Sealy-McCrorey is Niyell’s father and a member of Families for Safe Streets.