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 Pedestrian Accidents

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The New York block where a cyclist and two pedestrians were struckA reckless driver who tried to flee the police in Brooklyn, NYC, struck a bicyclist and two pedestrians, continued driving, struck three other pedestrians, crashed into a vehicle and then into a wall before running away with a passenger. One suspect is in custody while the other is still at large.

According to the police, two officers patrolling in Bedford-Stuyvesant saw a car with mismatched plates which is usually an indication that the car might have been stolen. They also noticed that the two people inside the car were smoking marijuana.   As they got out of the police car to talk to the driver after turning on their lights and pulling the car over, the driver of the vehicle took off.

As he was fleeing from the police, the reckless driver  first struck a cyclist and two pedestrians at the intersection of Macon Street and Ralph Avenue. He did not stop and continued speeding on Ralph Avenue. As he reached Hasley Street, the driver hit a grandmother and her grandson who were crossing the street. He then crashed into another car and careened into the wall of building. The driver and the passenger then got out of the car and ran away.

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11 pedestrians, 3 cyclists, 4 passengers and 8 motor vehicle operators died in crashes in New York City last May compared to respectively 6,2,0 and 2 in April and 15, 1, 3 and 11 in May 2021. This is the first time that the number of monthly fatalities is above 25 since October 21.

After a drop during the Covid19 crisis in 2020, monthly traffic accident fatalities have been above 25, 8 times during the last 2 years, Before the Covid19 crisis, since Vision Zero started in 2014, fatalities only went above 25 5 times over a period of 6 years. These numbers are very preoccupying.  At the very beginning of May, The Adams administration launched a $4 million campaign urging  motorists to slow down but so far this campaign doesn’t seem to have much effects on car accident fatalities.

New York motor vehicle accident fatalities May 2022
Car accident deaths have been exploding over the last two years in New York City. Last May, as mentioned above, 26 people died in traffic accidents compared to 10 a month earlier and 30 in May 2021. Since May 2015 when they reached 28, monthly car accidents deaths had remained below 20 during the months of April and May. While the trendline since Vison Zero started remains on the decline, the last 2 years have been more deadly than before.

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Senior pedestrian zonesIn New York City,  45% of the pedestrians who die in a car accident are seniors while they make up only 15% of the total population of the city.

10 years ago senior pedestrian fatalities represented 33% of all pedestrian fatalities, but their numbers are gradually growing and as a result senior pedestrian fatalities are representing a higher percentage of  all pedestrian fatalities than they used to.

The DOT wants to address this problem and  yesterday, DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez visited a senior center in Washington Heights to announced the release of an extensive study about senior pedestrian fatalities  and a plan to prevent them.

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The intersection where Lin was fatally struckAnother pedestrian died in a crash in New York City on Saturday after the driver of a van failed to yield to her

62 year old Tian-Rong Lin was crossing Seward Avenue in the Bronx when a van making a left turn from Olmstead Avenue struck her. The accident occurred on Saturday morning around 11:00 am. The driver, 54 year old Ramon Cedeno-Ortiz, stayed at the scene of the accident. He was charged with failure to exercise due care and failure to yield to a pedestrian.

Drivers rarely charged when they kill a pedestrian

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Location of the deadly MTA Bus AccidentA pedestrian was fatally struck by a MTA Bus in Staten Island, NYC, last Friday early morning and the bus driver never stopped.

69 year old Patrick Varriale, a New Springville resident and the the electronic media services division director for the American Federation of Musicians of US and Canada, an instrumental musicians union, was crossing the intersection of Forrest Hill Road and Platinum Avenue in Staten Island around 4:40 AM on Friday when he was struck by a MTA bus driver who never stopped and left the victim dying in the street.

The intersection is a block away from the MTA Yukon Bus Depot and after investigation, the police found out that the bus driver who hit the victim was a 52 year old man who was travelling eastbound on Forest Hill Road. He hit the victim as he was making a left turn onto Platinum Avenue. The man was driving the SIM 10 route bus.

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Raife fatally struck by drunk driverMichael de Guzman had a blood-alcohol content of .13 when he struck  and killed a pedestrian in Downtown Manhattan.

21 year old Raife Miligan was attempting to cross Houston Street near First Avenue last Monday around 2:45 am when the drunk driver fatally hit him.

According to an article published yesterday in the New York Post, just after he struck the student with his red Chevy Camaro, the driver told the police that he saw “a shadow running across the street” and while he tried to swerve to avoid it, he crashed into a Honda CRV and the divider. The officer who took the complaint wrote the following “I observed [de Guzman] ask the passenger of his vehicle if he hit the other car and the passenger stated to [de Guzman] in substance, no you just hit the guy, meaning the pedestrian,”.

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Florence NGWU critically injured in a truck accidentFlorence Ngwu, a beloved mother and nurse who was critically injured in a truck accident in New York City on Sunday morning did not survive. She died on Monday afternoon from her injuries.

The horrific accident took place on Mother’s Day around 8:30 am on 167th Street and 120th Avenue in South Jamaica, Queens, NYC.

The driver of a large Ford F-550 truck belonging to the construction company Pawar Builders crashed multiple times into a white BMW while trying to make a U-turn in the dead-end street.

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29 pedestrians, 17 passengers and 12 motor vehicle operators died in crashes in New York City during the first 3 months of the year for a total of 58 fatalities. There were no cyclist fatalities. Since Vision Zero started in 2014, the highest number of auto accident deaths reached 51 in 2014. The only positive news during the first quarter was that no cyclist deaths were reported during this period which never occurred before.

car accident fatalities NYC Q1 2022
NYC Car accident injuries were higher during Q1 22 than during the same period of 2010 and almost reached the same level than in 2020. Among the injured were 4,632 drivers, 3,120 passengers, 649 bicyclists and 2,100 pedestrians. Compared to the same period a year before, all categories of road users sustained a higher number of injuries with the exceptions of the cyclists which might indicate that all the new measures to make cycling safer in  the city have a positive impact.

auto accident injuries New York City Q1 22
12 motor vehicle operators died in crashes during Q1 compared to respectively, 10, 10, 9, 13, 8, 13, 8, 15 and 15 during the same period 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. While the trend line of motorist deaths is still declining, the numbers of this last quarter are significantly above this trend line.

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scene of the fatal chain crashA pedestrian was fatally struck between two parked cars in Brooklyn, NYC on Saturday morning around 9:35 am.

The accident occurred as 48 year old Everton Stewart was cleaning his car parked in front of his parents’ house located in Canarsie on E. 89th Street near Avenue L. He was standing between the back of his car and the front of his father’s car which was parked right behind him when another car that was coming down the street slammed into his father’s car and pinned him between the two vehicles. The man was rushed to the hospital but he did not survive.

The driver who caused the chain accident, a 46 year old woman with a child in the car, swerved to avoid a car and then according to the police “accelerated for no reason” and crashed into the father’s car.  She was arrested by the police and charges are still pending.

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10 pedestrians, 8 passengers and 6 drivers died in crashes in New York City in February. No cyclists fatalities were reported to the NYPD during this month. 266 bus accidents, 577 truck accidents and 56 motorcycle accidents were reported among the total 7,261 motor vehicle collisions recorded in February.

Traffic accident fatalities in New York City reached a record high for the month of February with 24 people dying in traffic accidents compared to respectively 10, 17, 12, 16, 13, 18, 15, 12 and 20 in February 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.  Traffic accident fatalities in the city last February were even higher than what they were in February 2013 before Vision Zero started.  The  trendline which had been steadily declining during Vision Zero is now almost flat. Since last February ,monthly car accident fatalities have been at the level of the trendline or above which is quite unusual and quite worrisome.

Car accident fatalities February 22
The high number of car accident fatalities in New York City last February is mostly due to a record high number of car passengers fatalities (see category in red in the graph below, click on it for full size). 8 motor vehicle passengers died in crashes last February compared to 5 in January 2020 and 2 in February 2021. Since Vision Zero started and even a year before, the highest total monthly passengers fatalities were 6 in April 2014 and 6 in July 2015.