Thread by @Rit_Aggarwala

Two days before Thanksgiving, my younger brother, Andrew Aggarwala, was hit and killed by a driver while walking his dog in his neighborhood in Vernon, CT, near Hartford. The driver drove off. 1/

journalinquirer.com/towns/vernon/v…

Andrew was extraordinary – an aeronautical engineer at @prattandwhitney, with 20+ patents; a devoted father, husband, and son; a committed volunteer in his community; a @cornell alum; and an easygoing guy with a great sense of humor. 2/

patch.com/connecticut/ve…

Through impressive investigative work and with the help of neighbors, @VernonCTPolice quickly identified the car and the driver responsible. The driver told police he “may have glanced at [his] phone” while driving. 3/

courant.com/breaking-news/…

The street Andrew was killed on has no sidewalks, and is at the top of an uphill curve. It connects his residential neighborhood with a nearby trail built on an old railroad line. He was probably taking his dog, Ollie, to the trail when he was killed. 4/

Ollie, happily, was found, through a huge four-day effort by the local community and the police. The fact that Ollie is back at home is a comfort to my nieces, whom I love dearly. My thanks to @DGRDogRecovery and @VernonCTPolice for their great work. 5/

patch.com/connecticut/ve…

Unfortunately, Andrew’s death is not a rare case. US pedestrian fatalities are up 40% over the last 12 years. A pedestrian dies somewhere in the US every ~90 minutes. In CT in November alone, 7 pedestrians and 1 cyclist died. 6/

realhartford.org/2020/12/01/ped…

I’ve worked on urban mobility for many years and have long been concerned about ped safety. Although I worry every time my kids cross a street here in NYC, I never expected to be so personally affected by this terrible trend. It is devastating. 7/

caranddriver.com/news/a31136893…

At every level of govt, we need to take this seriously. This starts with the Biden Admin, which can direct NHTSA to include ped safety in its new car crashworthiness ratings; 8/

gao.gov/products/GAO-2…

and can deny Fed funding to projects that do not include sufficient and safe ped and bike access. We also need a national effort to link sidewalks and trails. 9/

railstotrails.org/resource-libra…

Even more, we must change the culture that treats “accidents” as okay and considers reckless driving a right. Andrew’s death got attention because the driver fled. Too often, unsafe driving is excused and defended. 10/

nytimes.com/2019/06/08/us/…

We must enforce speed limits, esp on local roads. A key cause of increasing ped deaths is faster driving everywhere – not just on highways. I’m grateful that @NYCDOT has a robust camera-based speeding enforcement program. It should be universal. 11/

newsday.com/news/health/co…

I'm also grateful that Andrew’s neighbors are working to get sidewalks put in. I hope the Town of Vernon rises above such selfish reactions as "pedestrians need to protect themselves" or "sidewalks are a hassle for homeowners." 12/

courant.com/community/vern…

If you live in central CT, please sign this petition to put in sidewalks where my brother died. 13/

Vernon Town Council: Sidewalks on Phoenix Street and Washington Street - Sign the Petition! chng.it/pzMwVwYr via @Change

And if you knew Andrew, we are collecting stories about him, and tributes to him, for his kids to have in the future. We all miss him very, very much. End/

gofundme.com/f/supporting-t…