As evidenced by these before-and-after pictures, it appears the D.O.T. belatedly painted new crosswalks on Van Brunt Street in Red Hook, including the intersection where Janet Ramos was struck by a van last week and killed.

Van Brunt and Wolcott, July 14, 2006.

The D.O.T., you'll remember, said that it had no plans for any traffic-calming measures until a planned traffic study in the fall. Residents have been demanding some sort of solution ever since the nearby Fairway opened in May and traffic in the once-sleepy hamlet boomed.

We applaud the D.O.T. for finally doing something, but question its timing: Does it require someone's death to get a clearly painted crosswalk--in front of a public school no less?

-Matthew Grace

Previous coverage here.

Area residents have complained about increased traffic since the opening of the nearby Fairway grocery store in May. Witnesses said the van that struck Ramos came from the Fairway parking lot. The D.O.T. has not conducted a study of traffic in the neighborhood yet; it plans on conducting a study in the fall.

StreetsBlog has a damning post calling out the D.O.T. on its complacency regarding traffic, traffic studies and the resulting carnage on city streets.

See our earlier coverage here.

Update: The medical examiner's office just got back to us with Ramos' cause of death: blunt compact injuries of the head.

-Matthew Grace