4th-grader makes video calling attention to dangerous SoHo intersection

SOHO, Manhattan (WABC) -- A boy in Manhattan is only a fourth grader, but he's already making a difference with a mission to save lives.

In a mini-documentary, he pushed to make his street corner safer.

There's nothing subtle about the video 9-year-old Lucas Maxwell made, with the help of his dad and brother, to call attention to an especially troublesome intersection he's forced to navigate on the way home from school: Kenmare at Lafayette in SoHo.

"Or as I like to call it, the corner of death," he says.

The online mini-documentary pointed out that pedestrians crossing the street were in grave danger of being hit by cars making a left turn, and something needed to be done before the worst happened.

The Department of Transportation was listening. On Wednesday, Lucas was an invited guest as the commissioner announced some safety enhancements at that very corner and others, although she insists the department was already working on those when Lucas's film surfaced.

"It was very funny, but it was also smart and respectful, and he made some really good points about this corner," said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

It turns out Lafayette and Kenmare are in the top one percent of New York City intersections for left turn crashes.

The DOT hopes new lane markers and a signal giving pedestrians a head start for crossing will make a difference.

For Lucas, seeing something and saying something did.

"I feel like now this corner is really safe and it's easier for people to cross, and nobody is going to get hit anymore," said Lucas.