Transit & Streets Quiet since Sep 6 Updated Sep 6, 2026
The flagger safety reckoning
MTA construction flagger Moet McCullum, 41, was struck and killed by a southbound D train at the 161st Street-Yankee Stadium station 11 months into the job, the second flagger death in three years after Hilarion Joseph was killed in 2023. Three separate investigations, by the NTSB, NYC Transit's Joint Safety Task Force and TWU Local 100's Safety Team, are now examining whether the agency's track-worker warning protocols actually protect flaggers.
The story so far
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Sep 6, 2026 Latest
Federal regulators counted 38 near-strikes of track workers in 2023, up 58% from the year before, and ordered the MTA to fix track safety after Hilarion Joseph's 2023 death at Herald Square; the MTA appealed that order. The NTSB dispatched a go team to McCullum's death, and NYC Transit's Track Safety Task Force and TWU Local 100's safety team opened their own reviews.
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Sep 5, 2026
MTA construction flagger Moet McCullum, 41, a mother of three, was killed by a Manhattan-bound D train just after 11:30 p.m. Thursday at the 161st Street-Yankee Stadium station while placing warning lights on the tracks. An internal MTA report said a supervisor heard the train and a lookout blew a whistle to clear the area but McCullum froze, while the train operator said he saw no warning lights and drove at normal speed; the MTA pulled all construction flaggers off the tracks for 24 hours of safety retraining and the NTSB launched a go team.
Gothamist 
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