An advocate on Monday called for legislative action after a mother and her two children were fatally struck while crossing the street in Brooklyn over the weekend.

Authorities said the victims — 34-year-old Natasha Saada and her children, Diana, 8, and Deborah, 5 — were in a crosswalk at Ocean Parkway and Quentin Road in Gravesend Saturday afternoon when they were hit.

What You Need To Know

  • A 34-year-old mother, Natasha Saada and her children, Diana, 8, and Deborah, 5, were killed while crossing the street in Gravesend Saturday afternoon

  • Police have charged the 32-year-old driver, Miriam Yarunu with multiple counts of second-degree manslaughter, assault and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle

  • Meanwhile, advocates like Gersh Kuntzman, the editor-in-chief of Streetsblog, are urging lawmakers to act

  • He is proposing installing speed limiters in vehicles for drivers who have received six or more speeding tickets

Police said the incident began when 32-year-old Miriam Yarimi rear-ended a Toyota Camry that was yielding to the pedestrians. While the Camry avoided striking the family, Yarimi’s Audi sedan continued forward, hitting them. She has since been charged with multiple counts of second-degree manslaughter, assault and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

According to the website HowsMyDrivingNY, Yarimi had a history of reckless driving, with 20 speeding tickets linked to her vehicle.

“We have a mayor who used the term ‘accident’ to describe what happened on Saturday. Now that's not an accident by any stretch of the imagination,” said Gersh Kuntzman, editor-in-chief of Streetsblog, during a “Mornings On 1” interview on Monday. “You have a recidivist speeder, a woman who had 20 speeding tickets on the car in question, who had had her license suspended by authorities. Was not supposed to be driving.”

Kuntzman urged state lawmakers to act.

“You'll hear activists later today talking about a bill that doesn't want to take the car away, doesn't want to make it more difficult for drivers to get around because we're in a very car-dependent society,” he said. “They just want to have a bill that would put a speed limiter inside the cars of people like this woman, who are recidivist speeders.”

Kuntzman said the GPS-enabled device could be programmed to recognize speed limits and restrict speeds for drivers who have received six or more speeding tickets. He pointed to Virginia, which recently became the first state to implement such measures.

Opposition to that type of legislation, he said, comes from politicians reluctant to take action against reckless drivers.

“We're in a society that is that about 120 years of car culture, right? So after 120 years, everything seems normal that you do behind the wheel of a car,” he said.

There are also other options, Kuntzman said. State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, who represents Bay Ridge and other parts of southern Brooklyn, has proposed a bill requiring speed limiters for repeat offenders. Gounardes is also behind another bill that would suspend licenses for drivers with excessive speed camera violations.

“Right now, if you get a speed camera or red light camera ticket, it doesn't count on your license,” Kuntzman said. “Which is why the City Council created a law that would at least force the owner of that car to go through a safe driving course. Then the City Council allowed that to sunset.”