A pedestrian who was crossing Bedford Ave near Kozsciusco Street in Brooklyn, NYC, was struck by a SUV after 9 pm Saturday night. The pedestrian, a 40 year old man suffered severe personal injury and was rushed to the hospital. The SUV driver stayed at the scene and wasn’t charged.
Read more in the New York Daily News
A SUV driver abandoned his car on the sidewalk after an accident during which he lost control of his vehicle, jumped the curb and pinned two pedestrians against the wall of a building in Starrett City, Brooklyn, NYC. One of the pedestrians, a 27 year old man was severely injured and had both legs amputated. The other pedestrian, a 32 year old woman suffered head trauma but she is in stable condition.
Read more in the New York Daily News
A 31 year old pedestrian was struck by a car and died on the Hutchinson Parkway. The woman exited from a car that had stopped on the service road and tried to cross the busy highway. She was hit by a pick up truck and died at the scene of the accident. According the NY Daily News, the woman had been drinking and was arguing with her boyfriend who was driving the car.
A 55 year old woman was killed in a bus accident as she was crossing Astoria Boulevard last night around 10 pm. Melanie Ward exited the Q47 bus on 80th Street just before the intersection with Astoria Boulevard in Elmhurst. She then proceeded to cross Astoria Boulevard in the crossing lines. At the same time, the bus driver made a right turn on Astoria Blvd and hit the victim with the front wheel. Melanie Ward later died from her injuries at the hospital.
According to a Street Blog NYC article by Brad Aaron, the victim seemed to have the right of way and under the new Vision Zero Law (Intro 238) the bus driver should have been charged. However the police told the Gothamist that they could not say if Ward had the right of way and didn’t charge the driver.
Intro 238 makes it a misdemeanor for drivers to strike pedestrians or cyclists who have the right of way. The law has been effective since August 22nd. The police didn’t enforce it against a yellow cab driver who killed a pedestrian who had the right of way on August 29th on the Upper West Side and will probably not enforce it against the bus driver in this case.
13 projects to prevent pedestrian and bicycle accidents in New York City are going to be funded by a $25 million federal grant secured by Senator Schumer. Previous Vision Zero Crash analysis and input from communities were used to select the13 project locations. Projects will include an extension of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway; street safety improvements near schools in Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island; and pedestrian safety measures along dangerous corridors like Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park.
Read more in Transportation Nation
Another pedestrian was hit by a car on West End Avenue. The victim a 73 year old woman is in critical condition. She was crossing West End Ave yesterday night around 8 pm when an auto driven by an 87 year old man ran over her. The driver stayed at the scene and wasn’t charged. (read more in the Gothamist)
West End is very a very dangerous avenue. This year, 61 year old Jean Chamber and 9 year old Cooper Stock were both killed in car accidents on West End Ave. Between 2008 and 2012, 96 pedestrians, 41 cyclists and 160 motor vehicle passengers were injured in crashes on West End. To stop the bleeding, The NYC Community Board 7 approved a complete redesign of West End Ave (see previous blog) that should be completed before the winter. (see West Side Rag)
An 88 year old church deacon driving to mass ran over a homeless pedestrian pushing a shopping cart on the crosswalk as she was making a left turn from Bedford Ave. The elderly woman said she didn’t see the man. Left turns are more dangerous than right turns. Often drivers making a left turn concentrate on finding a momentary break in the traffic to rush through and don’t see pedestrians crossing at the same time. According to a previous article in the NY Post, left-turn crashes in which the pedestrians either suffer severe personal injury or die outnumber right-turn ones by 3 to 1 in New York.
Read more in the New York Post
The NYPD Motor Vehicle Collision Data report for the month of July is a blow to the various Vision Zero Initiatives that have been deployed since the beginning of the year to reduce traffic deaths. The initiatives that have been mainly focusing on pedestrian fatalities didn’t seem to have been very effective this summer with the number of pedestrian fatalities more than doubling from 7 to 15 between June and July. 11 cyclists also died since the beginning of the year, almost twice more than in 2013 when 6 cyclists lost their lives during the first 7 months of the year.
Even though the total number of vehicle crashes in NYC was lower last July (17,361) compared to the same month in 2013 (17,548) and compared to the previous month (18,321), the total number of vehicle accidents since the beginning of the year is slightly higher than last year with a total of 118,195 crashes compared to 117,022 for the first seven months of 2013.
4591 people suffered personal injuries during a vehicle collision in NYC during the month of July, a decrease compared to 4950 in June and 5077 in July 2013. Personal injuries related to vehicle crashes are also down by 7% for the first 7 months of 2014 compared to the first 7 months of 2013 with motorists injuries down by 9%, passengers injuries down by 6%, cyclist injuries down by 3.5% and pedestrian injuries down by 7%.
The number of pedestrian and bicycle accidents at Fordham Plaza should decrease significantly by next fall as Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg joined community leaders yesterday to break ground on a plan to completely redesign Fordham Plaza.
Fordham Plaza is one of the busiest transit hubs in the city with the third busiest Metro North Station, 12 bus lines and two schools serving thousands of students. According to the DOT the foot traffic at Fordham Plaza is equivalent to the foot traffic at Herald Square or Penn Station with approximately 80,000 pedestrians over 12 hours. The actual configuration of the Plaza has caused hundreds of pedestrians and cyclists to be injured in traffic accidents over the years. The intersection between Fordham Road and Webster Ave is considered the third most dangerous intersection in the city.
To transform Fordham Plaza into a safe and vibrant place, the NYCDOT and the Economic Development Coprporation have developed plans (see pdf) for a major redesign that includes large public spaces, numerous safety improvements for pedestrians and a bike only street.
To protect Brooklyn senior pedestrians from being struck by cars, Borough President Adams is proposing to turn Brooklyn school crossing guards into full time employees so they can help not only children but also seniors when crossing the street.
Read more in The Brooklyn Paper
New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog
