it the second busiest roadway in the city, after the Long Island Expressway, which handled 125,000 vehicles a day. In 1969, many traffic lights on Queens and Northern Boulevards were computerized, reducing travel time by as much as 25 percent during off-peak hours, and as much as 39 percent during rush hour. Safety issues and improvements The combination of Queens Boulevard's immense width, heavy automobile traffic, and thriving commercial scene made it the most dangerous thoroughfare in New York City by the 1990s, and has earned it citywide notoriety and morbid nicknames such as "The Boulevard of Death" and "The Boulevard of Broken Bones". During the period 1950-2000, over 27,000 people were injured on Queens Boulevard. From 2002-04 there were 393 injuries and eight deaths. Queens Boulevard became known as the Boulevard of Death New York Newsday and the New York Daily News got into a circulation war on the issue of the Boulevard of Death, and the DOT was under pressure to take action. Weinshall implemented pedestrian improvements on Queens Boulevard, including longer pedestrian crossing times, a lowering of the speed limit from 35 mph to 30 mph and the construction of new pedestrian median refuges. The safety improvements have proven successful, without the predicted backups. Between 1980 and 1984, at least 22 people died and 18 were injured in a stretch of Queens Boulevard in Rego Park and Forest Hills. From 1993 to 2000, 72 pedestrians were killed trying to cross the street, or an average of 10 per year. Eighteen pedestrians were killed while crossing the boulevard just in 1997. Between 1990 and 2017, it was estimated that 186 people, including 138 pedestrians, died in collisions along Queens Boulevard. The street's design with straight wide lanes has encouraged drivers to drive as if they were on a highway, leading drivers to travel well above the speed limit. In addition, many people cross the Boulevard in areas without crosswalks since there are long stretches between intersections. Some of the most dangerous crossings of Queens Boulevard are near Roosevelt Avenue, 51st Avenue, Grand Avenue, Woodhaven Boulevard, Yellowstone Boulevard, 71st Avenue, and Union Turnpike; all of these streets either have high vehicular traffic or cross the boulevard diagonally. Pedestrian crossings of Queens Boulevard can be up to long, or one-and-a-half times the length of a city block in Manhattan. As such, the Boulevard is hard to cross in one traffic