Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is a New York Plaintiff's personal injury law firm specializing in automobile accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct and all types of New York personal injury litigation.

Articles Posted in Auto Accidents

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accident sceneTwo men died in a two separate motorcycle accidents in Brooklyn, NYC, this week-end. A woman who was a passenger in one of the accidents is in critical condition. The first accident took place on the Williamsburg Bridge on Saturday night, around 9:40 pm. 48 year old Khayyam Jackson was riding his motorcycle at high speed going toward Brooklyn. As he was trying to pass a car he rear-ended it and as a result lost control of his bike and careened into a pillar of the bridge. The impact was so strong that the motorcycle driver was killed in the accident. The driver of the car remained at the scene of the accident and was not charged.

A few hours later, early Sunday morning, around 2:15 am, 30 year old David Fuller-Gist was riding his motorcycle with a 24 year female passenger on Atlantic Avenue in Crown Heights when he lost control of his bike. He crashed into a pillar of the elevated Long Island Rail Road tracks at the intersection of Troy Ave. Both riders were rushed to the hospital. David passed away and the female passenger was in critical condition. (Read more in the NY Daily News )

Speeding BMW driver  kills 77 year old woman on the Van Wick Expressway

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location of the bee-line bus accident in the Bron NY11 people were injured including one critically after an articulated bus of the Bee-line system from Westchester county crashed into a pillar of the elevated subway line on Jerome Avenue near the intersection of East 213th Street in the Bronx, NYC. The bus was serving the 4 line and transporting passengers between Yonkers and Bedford Park in the Bronx. A car that previously collided with another one slammed into the bus pushing it into the pillar.

One 69 year old man in critical condition

Some of the bus accident victims were taken to the hospital by EMS, others were treated at the scene.  Among them, was the driver of the bus who was put on a stretcher and rushed to the hospital. The bus drivers told witnesses that 3 people were more injured than he was. A 69 year old man who suffered critical traumatic brain injury is in critical condition. He also said he was a veteran driver who was planning to retire next year and never had an accident in his entire career as a bus driver.

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A total of 118 people including 39 motorists, 16 motor vehicle passengers, 5 cyclists and 58 pedestrians lost their life in crashes in New York City during the first six months of 2021. This is the highest number of traffic accident fatalities during the first semester since 2013 when 121 people died in crashes. During the 7 following years, after Vision Zero was launched in 2014, auto fatalities declined and oscillated around 100 during the first six months of the year with their lowest at 84 deaths during the first semester of 2018.

traffic accident fatalities NYC 1st semester 2021
New York City auto accident injuries were lower than usual during the first semester of 2021. Since the beginning of the pandemic last year, less people have been on the road in the city which might explain the decline in injuries. A total of 22,898 people were injured. Among them were 10,975 motorists, 6,492 passengers, 2,303 cyclists and 3,128 pedestrians.

traffic accident injuries new york 1st sem 2021
Pedestrian fatalities were at their highest since 2014 last semester with 58 deaths compared to respectively, 37, 51, 49, 49, 56, 34, 60 and 72 during the first six months of 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.It is very disappointing that after 7 years of  multiple Vision Zero initiatives, the number of pedestrian fatalities is back at its 2014 level. Are more pedestrians dying because the streets are still less busy than usual and more people are speeding or driving in a reckless manner?

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location of the deadly Maserati crash in Brooklyn NYCTwo people were killed and two others were injured in car accidents related to speed in New York City these  last days. Yesterday night, 34 year old Joseph Edlawn, was speeding North on the Harlem River Drive when he lost control of his vehicle while attempting to take the East 125th Exit at high speed. He was on the ramp leading down to 125th Street when he hit the curb violently. The car flipped over and rolled over several times before landing on the roof. The driver was not wearing his seatbelt and was ejected from the car. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.  A 28 year old woman who was a passenger wearing a seatbelt only suffered minor scrapes.  (Read more in the New York Post)

On Saturday morning around 3:30 am a man behind the wheel of  Maserati  was speeding on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into the pole of the elevated train line at the intersection of Rochester Avenue in Crown Heights. The car flipped in the air and split in two before catching fire. Firefighters ran to the rescue. A man who is presumed to be the driver died at the scene of the accident and another man who was presumably the passenger was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries.  (Read more in the NY Daily News)

Injuries and death related to speed are on the rise in New York City since last year. According to the most recent data, NYPD collision data, unsafe speed was a contributing factor in 450  NYC traffic accidents that resulted in injury or death during the month of June. As a comparison during the same month, distracted driving, failure to yield-the-right-of-way, and following too closely were respectively the contributing factor in 2,850, 788 and 773 crashes that resulted in injury or death.

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accident sceneA hit-and-run moped driver crashed into a 4 year old pedestrian and seriously injured him last Sunday in New York City. The accident occurred in the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park near the Boathouse at the end of the afternoon. 4 year old Jonathan Beauchamp was hanging in the park with his parents and other children and relatives when  dirt bike and moped riders showed up and started to do donuts.  A mope rider struck 4 year old Jonathan and fled away. The boy was rushed to the emergency room by his dad and was diagnosed with acute head trauma. He remains in critical but stable condition. The police are still looking for the moped driver.

Hit-and-run drivers get away with murder all the time in NYC

In New York City, very few hit-and-run drivers are being found by the police and even in cases resulting in serious injury, many of the hit-and-run drivers face no consequences. Less than a quarter  of hit-and-run drivers involved in accidents resulting in death or serious injuries are indeed arrested.  47 people were critically injured or died in hit-and-run accidents in New York City during the first six months of 2021 and only 11 arrests were made which represent 23% of all the serious cases.  While looking at all hit-and run accidents including those that only result in property damage only 1% of the hit and run drivers are being arrested in New York City.

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1 bicyclist, 15 pedestrians, 11 motorists and 3 passengers lost their life in crashes in New York City last May. That is a total of 30 fatalities. Since Vision Zero started in 2014, this is the first time that such a high number of traffic accident fatalities were recorded during a month of May.  Last year because of the Covid-19 lockdown, only 5 fatal crashes occurred in May and during the previous years respectively, 18, 13, 11, 18, 28, 25 and 15 people died in NYC traffic accidents in May 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.  Since the beginning of  the Covid-19 crisis, the de Blasio administration seems to have given up on all the efforts deployed during Vision Zero and the recent traffic accident fatality numbers are similar to the numbers reported during the pre-Vision Zero era.

car-crash-deaths-New-york-May-2021
4,927 people were injured in crashes in New York last May compared to 2,437 during the Covid-19 lockdown in May 2020 and 5,554 in May 2019. The number of car accident injuries last May is a little bit lower than what it was during May 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

traffic accident injuries nyc May 2020
While looking at fatalities by category of road users, pedestrians and motorists accounted for the majority of the fatalities last May. Bicyclist fatalities have been lower than usual and passenger fatalities remained somewhat stable.  It is the first time since 2013, before Vision Zero started, that road fatalities in New York City are above 25 for two months in a row.  Over the last 12 months, monthly traffic accident deaths in New York have been 5 times over 25. Even in 2013, before Vision Zero started, monthly auto accident deaths only went 4 times over 25 during the entire year.

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Fire truck accident NYC April 202110 people were injured in a fire truck accident in Brooklyn, NYC, last Friday. The accident occurred on Friday afternoon around 3:00 pm on South Fifth Street at the intersection of Driggs Avenue located right under the Williamsburg Bridge. The fire truck collided with a minivan with 8 occupants on board. They were all transported to the hospital to be treated for non life threatening injuries. Two firefighters were also injured and transported to the hospital. The police are still investigating the exact cause of the accident. (Read more in the New York Post)

One fire truck accident every other day in NYC

In a busy city like New York, fire truck accidents and other emergency vehicle accidents occur on a regular basis. According to the most recent statistics, 70 fire truck accidents were reported by the NYPD between the beginning of this year and the end of April, which is at least one accident every other day.

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6 NYC pedestrians were injured after a car jumped the curb at high speed and hit them in the Bronx early Saturday morning. All pedestrians were members of the same family and had just exited Grant Park in the Bronx after a family gathering. They were standing on the sidewalk outside the park when a gray jeep travelling at a high rate of speed jumped the curb and struck them. A 16 year old boy and his mother were pinned under the jeep. The mother was critically injured while the boy suffered broken bones. The rest of the family, another 16 year old boy, a 40 year old man and two women were also injured and transported to the hospital to be treated.

After the accident occurred, the driver and the passenger got out of the vehicle and ran away. A group of people were able to catch the driver but the passenger came back to the scene escorted with friends and one of them shot a gun in the air to scare the crowd which let the driver go.

The family told CBS News that the driver intentionally hit them. The police are still investigating the accident.

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accident sceneA cyclist was fatally struck by a car  in the Bronx, NYC, last Friday night. The accident occurred around 11:22 pm  on Southern Boulevard, near the ramp of the Bronx River Parkway, in the Bronx Park. According to the police, the driver who was speeding was attempting to pass the cyclist but there was not enough space to do so and he struck the back wheel of the cyclist. The victim whose name was not released by the police, flew onto the windshield of the car, a 2019 Mercedes Benz Sedan, and then landed on the street. He died at the scene of the accident from severe body and head trauma.  The driver of the Mercedes abandoned his car on the side of the Boulevard and ran away on foot. The police are still looking for him. (read more in the Gothamist)

Less than 24 hours later, also in the Bronx, a man riding a e-scooter died after being struck by an Amazon Prime delivery van. The accident occurred in front of 1230 E. Tremont Avenue,  a little bit before 7:30 pm. Both the van and the e-scooter were travelling in the same direction when the van struck the scooter. The victim who was not identified, died at the scene of the accident. The driver of the van stayed at the scene of the accident and was not charged by the police. (Read more in the NY Post). 

In Brooklyn, a couple who was heading to work on a moped, were struck by a dump truck on Rogers Avenue near Bergen Street in Crown Heights. 36 year old Jose Garcia Cruz was taking his girlfriend, 25 year old Kristina Walker, to work when the accident occurred. The circumstances of the accidents are not exactly clear. CBS News indicates that the truck rear ended the moped while the police told the NY Daily News that the driver lost control of the moped when he tried to pass the dump truck. In NYC, the police have a habit of protecting the motorists and blaming the victims. (read more in the NY Daily News)

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car accident in NYC38,680 people died in auto accidents in the US in 2020 compared to 36,096 a year earlier according to preliminary data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The 7.2 % increase in crashes occurred as the total number of miles travelled by motor vehicles decreased by 13.2%, an indication that roads were much more dangerous during the pandemic. The rate of fatalities by 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) raised from 1.1 VMT in 2019 to 1.37 VMT in 2021. This is the highest rate of crash fatalities recorded in the US since 2007.

The region that includes NY, NJ, CT, and PA had  the highest increase of fatal auto accidents

When looking at the increase of fatal motor vehicle accidents by regions between 2019 and 2020, region 2 that includes NY, PA NJ and CT was the worst with a 10% increase in traffic accident deaths.