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Articles Posted in Bicycle Accidents

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Broad Channel fatal bicycle accident Tweet
65 year old Bogdan Darmetko died in a bicycle accident in New York City on Sunday. Bogdan was riding his bike on Cross Bay Boulevard in Broad Channel around 2:30 pm when he was hit by a 32 year old man driving a 2008 Ford SUV. According to the police report the cyclist who was riding in the unprotected bike lane made a left into the path of the car and was fatally struck by the front of the vehicle. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charged. When the EMS arrived they found Bogdan lying on the ground. They rushed him to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved. Bogdan Darmetko is the 25th person to die in a NYC bicycle accident this year. He had been riding his bicycle in the city for the last 10 years.

Residents have long complained that speeding is an issue but nothing has been done

The  accident occurred at a spot where some road construction was ongoing and the cyclist might have swerved to avoid it.  Speed might have been a factor in his death as well. Cross Bay Boulevard is known for excessive speeding and Broad Channel residents have long been asking the DOT to install stop lights to address this problem. The bike lane on both sides of the road is not protected. Many accident have occurred previously on this Boulevard. NYC Crash Mapper reports that in the area where Cross Bay Boulevard crosses through Broad Channel a total of 273 crashes were reported since the beginning of 2016 until the end of last September.  8 cyclists, 4 pedestrians and 82 motorists were injured  in some of these accidents.

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location of the fatal bicycle accidentA NYC child riding a bike in a crosswalk was killed by a motorist who failed to yield while making a left turn. The accident occurred on Saturday morning around 10:30 am in Brooklyn, NYC. 10 year old Dalerjon Shahobidinov was on his bike in the crosswalk on Foster Avenue when 29 year old Victor Mejia made a left turn from Seton Place and recklessly slammed into him. Mejia stayed at the scene of the accident. The police found that he was driving without a license and charged him with failure to exercise due care, failure to yield and driving without a license. The driver  who never applied for a license, has a long history of reckless driving with 22 summonses that include two running red lights.

24 bicyclists killed in NYC in 2019

Dalerjon was a fourth grade student at PS 134 and has 3 other siblings. When the accident occurred he was riding with a group of friends with whom he was playing soccer in Prospect Park. The child is the 24th cyclist to die in a traffic accident in New York City this year. The victim before him was a senior e-bike rider. 62 year old Abul Bashar was a delivery cyclist for a restaurant. He was struck by a private sanitation truck on September 8th and could never recover from his injuries. He died on September 18th.

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Borden-Ave-and-11streetA 14 year old cyclist was fatally struck by a truck in New York City on Saturday afternoon. Mario Valenzuela was riding his bike on Borden Avenue around 2:00 pm Saturday afternoon when a truck belonging to limited Interior Group, a private sanitation company, made a right turn onto 11th street and fatally struck him.

The 33 year old truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charged even though he violated the Right of Way Law.

Last week an off duty cop on a motorcycle was also killed by a private sanitation truck in the Bronx and at the beginning of the month another cyclist suffered critical head injury after he was struck by a dump truck in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Plans to reform the industry and reduce truck roads by having a limited number of companies taking care of specific areas have all been opposed so far.

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51 pedestrians, 13 cyclists 11 passengers and 28 motorists died in auto accidents in New York City during the first semester of 2019. After two consecutive years of decline, traffic fatalities in the city went back above 100 at 101 during the first six months of the year compared to respectively 84, 96, 107, 107, 97 and 121 in the same period of 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. Fatalities increased for all categories of road users except for motorist deaths which stayed stable at 26 during the first semester of this year and the previous one. Auto-accident-fatalities-NYC-first-semester-2019

NYC Traffic injuries reached a record high at 29,081 during the first semester of the year compared to respectively 28,544, 27,923, 27,540, 23,530, 24,508 and 26,119 during the first semester of 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. All category of road users except pedestrians suffered more injuries during this semester than during the previous one.

Car Accident Injuries New York first semester 2019
While the total number of bicycle accidents reported to the NYPD during the first semester of 2019 was slightly lower than the number of accidents reported during the same period of 2018, cyclist fatalities more than doubled during the first six months of the year compared to the first semester of 2018 to reach a record high of 13.  Bicycle accident injuries jumped to 1,907, a record high as well. These numbers came as a bad surprise as 6 months earlier, the de Blasio administration which had been promoting using bicycles to commute around the city was proudly announcing that the number of cyclists killed in the city reached a record low of 9 for the entire year of 2018 and that Vision Zero Initiatives were working. A similar pattern occurring in 2015 and 2016 is an indication that despite all Vision Zero improvements, the city remains a dangerous and deadly place to ride a bicycle.

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https://www.newyorkpersonalinjuryattorneysblog.com/files/2019/09/New_York._Central_Park._Carriage.jpgLast week a cyclist died after he collided with a pedestrian in Central Park. The fatal accident occurred at a dangerous crossing intersection at about 74th Street on East Drive. 43 year old Charles Cheeseboro was riding a e-bike when he struck a 77 year old pedestrian, lost control of his bike and fell on the ground striking his head. He was transported to the hospital where he died from his injuries two days later.

Chaotic Situation

Adrian Benepe who was a Parks Commissioner under Mayor Blooomberg told Streetblog in a interview that Central Park had become so chaotic that he gave up cycling there. He described the actual situation in Central Park as the Wild, Wild West. The Daily News mentioned that when the police was investigating the accident they also had to respond to 3 other accidents that occurred less than 100 feet away. Among them, two cyclists crashed into each other and one of them was transported to the hospital. In another one, a cyclist fell off his bike after being allegedly on his phone while riding.

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A man intentionally struck a cyclist and killed him in Brooklyn. The accident occurred Sunday morning around 6:00 am on Broadway near Ellery St. in Bushwick. The driver of the SUV whose car had been broken in earlier saw the cyclists fiddling with cars and got out of his Jeep Grand Cherokee to question him. The conversation got heated and the cyclist took off on his bike. The driver got back into his SUV and chased him. He sped after him in the oncoming lane of traffic and slammed into him, crushing him against the parked cars. The impact was so violent that the SUV flipped onto its side. The entire accident was caught by a surveillance video.

The 47 year old cyclist died at the scene of the accident and the 41 year old driver was taken into custody. Charges are pending. Two parked cars and a semi-truck were also damaged in the collision. The police found two car stereos, a screwdriver, a set of Allen wrenches, and a fake pistol laying amidst the wreckage.

Using a car as a weapon for a vigilante act is completely unacceptable

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More people than ever were injured in auto accidents in New York City and the number of cyclists deaths was back at its highest during the second trimester of 2019.  Despite a significant decline in the total number of accidents recorded by the NYPD during the period of April, May and June, more motorists, passengers and cyclists were injured in accidents during the second trimester of 2019 than during the same period of 2018. Pedestrians were the only NYC road users that recorded a decline in injuries compared to the same period of 2018.

auto accident nyc second trimester 2019
16,084 people were injured in NYC traffic accidents during the second trimester of 2019 compared to respectively 15,624, 15,315, 15,604, 13,461, 13,703 and 14,443 during the second trimester of 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. This is the first time that the number of accident injuries in New York goes over 16,0000 during the second trimester. Motorists are the ones who are the most frequently injured in car accidents. They account for almost half of the cases. Passengers injuries account for almost a third of the injuries.

Car Accident Injuries New York Second trimester 2019
After a steady decline from 2015 to 2018, auto accident fatalities increased again during the second trimester of 2019.  24 pedestrians, 17 motorists, 7 cyclists and 6 passengers died in traffic accidents in New York City last April, May and June.

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Jose-Alzorriz was riding his bike when he was fatally hit by a car in NYC52 year old Jose Alzorritz died in a horrific bicycle accident in New York City on Sunday afternoon. Alzorritz was on his bike at the intersection of Coney Island Avenue and Avenue L when a reckless driver speeding down Coney Island Ave blew the red light and collided with a minivan that was crossing the intersection from Avenue L. The impact was so intense that the minivan slid through the intersection and violently struck the cyclist. When the EMS arrived to the scene of the accident, they found Alzorritz unconscious on the ground with major head trauma. He was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved. A pedestrian suffered a leg injury and the driver of the van multiple body trauma. They were both hospitalized but their lives are not in danger.  The police didn’t reveal the identity of the reckless driver who caused the accident. They only revealed that he was 18 year old. He was taken into custody and charges are pending. A dashboard video of the accident clearly shows that the driver was reckless and sped through the red light (see below).

Dangerous Avenue

Coney Island Avenue is a dangerous avenue. Last month a pedestrian was killed at the intersection of Church Avenue. Maria Del Carmen Porras-Hernandez was in the crosswalk when she was fatally hit by a car. 19 cyclists, 43 pedestrians and 114 motorists were injured in traffic accidents between July 2018 and July 2019 on Coney Island Avenue. Speeding is frequent and so is double parking. Transportation Alternative published a statement in which the traffic safety advocate is asking Coney Island City Council to unite behind Speaker Corey Johnson’s Streets Master Plan bill, which would accelerate the schedule of redesigning deadly corridors like Coney Island Avenue.

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cyclist-nyc-e15620847726003 people died in bicycle accidents in NYC during the last 7 days.

Last Monday Robyn Hightman, a bike courier, was fatally struck by a truck on 6th Ave near 25th Street. Both the truck and the cyclist were heading in the same direction when they collided. The truck driver first didn’t stop but then returned to the scene of the accident after a witness in another car told him he hit someone. the driver told the police he didn’t know he hit the cyclist. Police said the driver was let go after he was hit with five summonses. The driver, 54 year old Antonio Garcia said it was the first time he had an accident since he started to work for his employer 14 years ago. However a look at the Howsmydrivingnyc.com indicates that the truck was hit with 83 violations since 2015 mostly for parking but also for speeding. A vigil was organized for Robyn during which hundreds of cyclists gathered and expressed not only their sadness but also their anger at authorities that are doing very little to hold drivers accountable. Robyn was the 12th cyclist in New York City to be killed in traffic this year.

Last Thursday night  around 9:00 pm, 57 year old Ernest Askew was fatally struck by an 18 year old driver on Sutter Avenue near Chester in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The car driver wasn’t arrested. Brownsville which is a low income community of color doesn’t have any protected bike lanes and there are not many efforts being made in regards to street safety. Cyclists share wide roadways with cars and speeding is common. At a vigil for Ernest Askew yesterday evening activists asked the city to address the lack of equity in low-income communities of color when it comes to protected bike lanes and street safety.

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32 people have been injured in bicycle accidents on Second Ave between 59th street and 68th street in Manhattan, with many accidents occurring at the intersection of 59th street and Second Avenue which is the entrance of the 59th Street Bridge.

Until recently, bicyclists who were riding South on Second Avenue used a protected bike lane until 68th Street and then had to ride through a dangerous gap in front of the 59th Street bridge entrance to then go back on the protected bike lane. The DOT was supposed to fill the bike lane gap last summer but the installation was delayed to this spring. The work is now almost completed.

This is good news for the estimated 3000 cyclists who use the Second Avenue bike lane and the estimated 6000 people crossing the Queensboro bridge by bike every day.  The changes include the addition of a bike lane that would be protected by cars during off-peak hours and that would turn into a curbside buffered bike lane during rush hours. A pedestrian and a bicycle crossing were added at the entrance of the Queensboro bridge to allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross on the East Side of  Second Ave.  An island and a tip extension were also built to shorten the pedestrian and bicycle crossing.