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 Bicycle Accidents

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Since 1990, 185  New Yorkers died in traffic accidents on Queens Boulevard, mostly pedestrians but also many bicyclists.  Yesterday New York Mayor Bill de Blasio held a press conference in Queens to announce that the “Boulevard of Death” would now become the Boulevard of life and that a $100 million redesign will be implemented to make this dangerous road safer for Queens residents.  The project will include additional crosswalks and safer crossing for pedestrians, protected bike lanes, expanded medians with green plants and intersections redesigned to decrease speed and deter reckless driving. The first phase started yesterday and will target a dangerous 1.3 mile stretch of the boulevard located between Roosevelt Ave and 73rd Street in Woodside. 6 people died, 36 suffered severe personal injury and 591 others suffered minor injuries in crashes in this specific area between 2009 and 2013. Read more on ABC New York

Queens Blvd redesign

 

Queens Boulevard Redesign Project, Source: New York City Department of Transportation

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Report a potholeA New York bicyclist suffered severe personal injury after he hit a pothole and impaled his neck on a nearby fence. The man in his forties was riding his bike near Stockholm Street and Woodward Ave in Ridgewood, Queens, NYC, when the bicycle accident happened. The man hit the pothole and fell off the bike, hitting his head on the ground. He then tried to stand up but stumbled on a metallic fence on which he impaled his neck. The fence went all the way through his neck. When the EMS arrived they had to cut part of the fence to be able to treat the bicyclist. He was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Several cyclists interviewed by the NY Daily News were aware of the pothole and said the bicycle accident could have been avoided if the city was more proactive in repairing the potholes.  We can only hope that these cyclists were proactive as well and had previously taken a picture of the pothole and reported it to the City so that this bicyclist stands a chance to be compensated by the City for his gruesome injuries.  In New York, most pothole cases can only be won if the City had “written notice of the defect” before the accident occurred. If you are a bicyclist or a pedestrian in New York City and you notice a pothole, snap a pic and report it! It doesn’t take long and it may cause repair and protect a bicyclist in the future.

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35 year old Alejandro Moran Marin died in a bicycle accident that happened two days ago at a dangerous intersection located near the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Yesterday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams held a press conference at the site of the accident. To illustrate the dangers of the intersection, Adams started the press conference by taking journalists on a bike ride around the area. During the ride he was almost hit by a truck. Adams said that 3 bicyclists died in the area in the last three years. He urged the DOT  to fast track the plans to redesign the areaRead more in the Mean Streets Section of the Brooklyn Paper

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The police are hit and run cyclistlooking for a cyclist who struck a 67 year old female pedestrian on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and fled the scene of the accident leaving the victim lying on the road in critical condition.

The bicycle accident happened on June 9th as the 67 year old woman was crossing the bike lane at the intersection of  First Ave and E. 87th Street.

The police are still looking for the reckless bicyclist and recently released a video showing the man riding away after he struck the woman.

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A bicyclist was killed in an accident Monday during  the early morning traffic rush in Brooklyn, New York City.  The bicyclist was riding south on Fourth Avenue near the Barclay Center when he was hit by an out of control SUV. According to the police, Claudio Rodriguez, the 37 year old driver of the SUV, may have had a seizure.  Rodriguez was travelling North on Fourth Ave when he first struck a car at a red light at the Dean Street intersection. The SUV then jumped the concrete median and crashed into the bicyclist who flew in the air and landed on the hood of the SUV. The bicyclist was carried several blocks on the hood of the SUV before he fell onto the pavement in front of the Atlantic terminal where he died. Rodriguez hit another car before crashing on Flatbush Avenue.  5 other people were injured in the accident. The police are waiting for the blood test results to determine if a medical condition caused the accident. According to the Post “Rodriguez admitted to cops that he had forgotten to take medication on Monday to control his seizures, law-enforcement sources said.”

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Right HookIn 20o9 fatal bicycle accidents represented 1.9% of all traffic deaths in the U.S. In 2013 this number was 2.3%.  Big trucks such as tractor trailers and box trucks as well as garbage and dump trucks represent a small fraction of the traffic but they are involved in a disproportionate amount of the fatal bicycle accidents. As cities are encouraging cycling and walking and create specific bike lanes and other infrastructures, e- commerce also brings more trucks into urban neighborhoods at the same time.

Trucks are extremely dangerous for cyclists and in many of the fatal crashes involving a bicyclist and a truck, the cyclist is first hit by the side of the truck, slides under it and gets crushed under the wheels.  Such crashes happen most of the time when the truck is making a right-hand turn in front of the bike. It is called the Right Hook. Because of the large dead angles, the truck driver often doesn’t see the cyclist riding on its side and the cyclist realized too late that the truck is turning right.

The installation of side guards on trucks is so far the best way to prevent bicyclists and pedestrians from falling under the wheels if they are hit by a truck. So far a few cities including New York have passed legislation to require the use of truck side guards but the approach is piecemeal and bicycle advocates are calling for federal action. Read more in Fair Warning

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Bicycle accidents injuries deaths NYC April 2015A man died in an accident between a bicycle and a truck in New York City. The man who was 57 years old was riding his bicycle at the Corner of Church Ave and Ocean Ave near Prospect Park in Brooklyn when he was struck by a box truck.

According to the police both the cyclist and the truck were riding in the same direction when they collided. The bike rider was run over by the rear wheels of the truck. The police found him with severe trauma to his body and he was pronounced dead upon his arrival at the hospital. Read more in the Mean Streets section of the Brooklyn Paper

For the last two years 3 people died in a bicycle accident in the month of June. Even though the Vision Zero Program includes several measures to protect bicyclists from being hurt or dying in dangerous traffic crashes the recent collision statistics published by the NYPD show no decline in deaths and injuries related to bicycle accidents in New York City.

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verdict002Top 25 verdictLast year, our partners New York Personal Injury Attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Peter Sagir obtained a $8,570,000 verdict for a bicyclist who suffered personal injury after being hit by a bus in New York (see previous blog. This verdict is the 16th highest verdict of all verdicts obtained in New York in 2014. Therefore our firm is honored to be featured this week in the 2014 New York’s Top 25 Verdicts and Settlements section of New York Magazine. This verdict was also was the highest verdict in New York in 2014 for a bicycle accident involving another vehicle.

Since 1919 we have been representing victims of catastrophic injury and we are constantly thriving  to achieve the highest results for our clients and their family in order to help them get back to their life with dignity and independence. A few years ago our New York personal injury law firm obtained a 27.5 million verdict for a female pedestrian who lost her leg after being struck by New York City Transit Authority Bus (see previous blog). Last year, in addition to the above verdict we also obtained a $7,125 million verdict against the City of New York for a woman who was struck by a bus when riding her bike and a $5 million verdict against the Federal Government for a woman who died after being struck by a postal truck (see previous blog).

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5 pedestrians died and 696 suffered personal injury in April in New York City compared to respectively 8 and 854 in April 2014 and 12 and 904 in April 2013.  Pedestrian fatalities have been declining since the beginning of this year and reached their lowest in April. The total number of pedestrian fatalities since the beginning of the year was 28 compared to 39 for the same period of 2014 and 55 for the same period of 2013.  Since the beginning of the year there was also a decrease in the number of pedestrians who suffered personal injury in a traffic accident in NYC.Pedestrian deaths and injuries NYC April 2015

2 people died and 300 were injured in a total of 300 bicycle accidents in New York City in April compared to respectively 1, 306 and 382 in April 2014 and 0, 288 and 358 in April 2013.  The number of cyclists fatalities and injuries remains elevated in the City.

Bicycle accidents injuries deaths NYC April 2015
Even though there was an unusually high number of 10 motorist deaths last April the total number of traffic fatalities in New York City since the beginning of the year is down compared to the same periods of 2014 and 2013.

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i - bus driverIn New York every year several pedestrians and cyclists die and many others suffer personal injury after being struck by an MTA Bus. In many of these accidents investigation shows that drivers were negligent and failed to yield or failed to exercise due care.  Since the beginning of the year a few bus drivers were arrested after a new Vision Zero Law made it a misdemeanor for drivers to strike pedestrians or cyclists who have the right of way.  TWU Local 100, the bus drivers Union is against this new law and would like bus drivers to be exempted from it.  This morning TWU local 100 launched a work slow down on 181st Street in Washington Heights between 7:00 am and 9:00 am to protest the law.

The flyers handed out to bus drivers by the Union (see picture) said “DO NOT TURN UNLESS THE INTERSECTION IS CLEAR!”. Isn’t that what bus drivers are supposed to do to keep NYC streets safe?

Read more in the New York Post and on Streetblog