CitiBike rider killed in truck accident in New York

A 28 year old woman riding a CitiBike was fatally struck by a tractor-trailer truck in New York.

The fatal collision between the truck and the cyclist occurred last Tuesday around 10:50 AM. 28 year old Carling Mott who lived a few blocks away, in Yorkville, on 84th Street, was riding a CitiBike on East 85th Street near the intersection of Madison Avenue when she was struck by a tractor trailer going in the same direction. The police initially stated she was riding in the opposite direction but corrected their statement later on.  Just before the accident the tractor trailer was waiting for the light to turn green and Carling was riding her bike on the right side of the truck when the driver took off (see video). The investigation is still ongoing as how exactly the accident took place . According to a recent article in the patch, Mott might have felt and gotten crushed by the truck as the light turned green and the driver moved forward. She was rushed to the hospital but she could not be saved.

There is a good probability that the truck was not supposed to be there

While the truck driver has not been charged so far, there is a good probability that he was there illegally. 85th Street between Madison Avenue and Park Avenue is a residential street and is not part of the official truck routes that commercial vehicles are authorized to use. Additionally the video published  on Streetblog shows a very large food service tractor-trailer truck which looks like 53-foot long tractor trailers. These particular types of trucks are only allowed to travel extremely limited sections of New York City, mostly to reach destinations om Long Island. They are not allowed to do deliveries in the city.

The Upper East Side is also one of the areas of Manhattan where protected bike lanes are almost nonexistent and cyclists are at high risk of getting struck by traffic.

Read more in Streetblog and in  the Patch