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.
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location of the deadly accidentA construction worker died after falling from a scaffold in Manhattan last Monday morning. The accident occurred at a residential building located at 263 West End Avenue, on the corner of West End Avenue and 72nd Avenue in the Upper West Side of Manhattan (see picture).

According to a preliminary investigation of the Department of Buildings, the 36 year old construction worker whose identity was not revealed, was installing netting on a scaffold at the 15th floor of the building when he fell to his death onto the sidewalk shed.  So far, the investigation of the DOB found that the worker did not receive site safety orientation before he started his work.

A full stop order was issued as DOB continues its investigation. The building owner, Riverside Towers Corporation, had an active work permit for façade repair and for the scaffold at the time of the accident. The  worker was employed by Rennon Construction and the General Contractor of the site is J&S Waterproofing. (read more in Construction Dive)

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accident scene3 people died in 3  separate traffic accidents in New York City on Tuesday.

The first accident occurred early morning in Queens. Around 6:00 am, a pedestrian was fatally struck by a car driver on 84th St near 153rd Ave in Howard Beach. The pedestrian who was found lying unconscious on the ground by EMS was identified as 53 year old Cristina Ana Acosta. She was rushed to the hospital but did not survive. The victim was killed a block away from her home.

The 45 year old driver of the Nissan Rogue who struck her remained at the scene of the accident and was not charged. A picture of the car that struck her in the NY Post shows that the car that struck her had plates reading “JOVILOCO”. It appears that the car driver is a repeated speeding offender and has accumulated  almost 30 school zone camera violations in 3 years according to howsmydriving. 

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location of the deadly crash on the Cross Bronx expresswayA car driver died in a fiery NYC crash that occurred in the Mount Even section of the Cross Bronx Expressway, underneath University Avenue, around 12:30 am on Monday night.

According to media, 49 year old Shelly Vilsaint from Bayonne, New Jersey, was driving her 2019 Range Rover west bound of the Cross Bronx Expressway in the middle lane when she rear-ended a tractor trailer contracted by the U.S. Postal Service.  Both drivers got out of their vehicles to talk.

The accident was a minor fender-bender for which usually the NYPD does not respond anymore but the woman insisted on waiting for the police. The driver of the truck suggested they pull over but she refused. Both got back in their vehicles and shortly after another tractor trailer rear-ended the Range Rover. The car was crushed between the two trucks and Shelly Vilsaint died at the scene of the accident.

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location of the fatal pedestrian accident in the RockawaysA 64 year old pedestrian was fatally struck by a car as he was crossing Seagirt Boulevard near Beach 31st Street in Far Rockaways, Queens, NYC, on Saturday  around 6:50 pm

Seagirt Boulevard is notoriously dangerous  and multiple crashes occurred on the 6-lane Boulevard in the past. Since 2019 one motorist died and 90 people were injured in crashes – including 19 pedestrians and 7 cyclists – on Seagirt Boulevard between Beach 9th Street and Rockaway Parkway. Speeding is so common that in 2019, one of the speed cameras installed on Seagirt Boulevard had the highest yearly amount of tickets recorded of all the speed cameras of New York City. Despite  this sad record it took the DOT until last September to announce that Seagirt Boulevard will finally be subjected to a road diet. (Read more about the accident in the NY Daily News)

Another pedestrian, father of 12 children, was killed by a hit and run driver in Manhattan on Sunday morning around 5:45 am

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location of the tractor trailer truck accidentA cyclist was killed in a hit-and-run tractor trailer accident in New York City on Thanksgiving day. The victim was riding her  bike East on Liberty Avenue near the intersection of the Van Wick Expressway Service Road in Queens, NYC when she was struck by a tractor trailer truck making a left turn onto the Van Wick Expressway Service Road.

The victim, a 43 year old woman, was knocked down from her bicycle, and fell under the truck where she got trapped.  She was then dragged several feet by the truck. The truck driver never stopped. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

The truck driver who was behind the wheel of a 2014 Kenworth T8 Series tractor trailer truck is a 48 -year old man who was later on identified by the police. The accident is still being investigated by the police. The intersection of Liberty Avenue and Van Wick Expressway is extremely dangerous, especially for people on micro mobility devices.

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construction workers have a high risk of fatalityDespite OSHA’s efforts, the death rate on construction sites in the US has not declined for the last 10 years, questioning the effectiveness of the agency.

While there is no doubt that OSHA is doing a great job developing and implementing safety standards, it does not have enough resources to proprely inspect jobsites. Additionnally fines are not only too low to dissuade bad actors but also most of the time they are not being paid and OSHA has little resources to go after those who don’t pay. Also on the top of deaths purely related to construction accidents, the opioid crisis and suicides are also taking a toll on construction workers.

For the last decade, out of every 100,000 construction workers, 10 died on the job. Among those fatalities 3 out of 5 died from what is known in the construction industry as the “Fatal Four”:

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Car are dangerous to pedestrians and cyclistsAmong rich countries, America is one of the most dangerous for road users especially pedestrians and cyclists.  In The Exceptionally American Problem of Rising Roadway Deaths, an article recently published by the New York Times,Emily Badger and  take an in-depth look at road fatalities in the US compared to other rich countries. They found out that during the Covid19 crisis, most countries in the world saw a decline in fatalities with the exception of the United States, Switzerland and Ireland.  When  comparing national traffic fatalities in 2020 to an average yearly traffic fatalities in 2017 to 2019 , Italy, Hungary, Turkey, Spain, France and Sweden all saw a decline or more than 20% in road fatalities. Italy recorded a 27% decline in traffic fatalities while the united States had a 5% rise in traffic fatalities.

While most rich countries have developed bicycle and pedestrian friendly infrastructures over the last decade, the United States did not do as much

While many countries started to take measures to protect pedestrians and cyclists such as protected bike lanes, lowering of speed limits and adopting safe vehicle technologies such as automatic braking systems, cars got bigger and deadlier in the United States.

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The dangerous NYC intersection where a pedestrian was killedA pedestrian was killed in a car accident on a dangerous street of New York City.  The accident occurred on Monday afternoon around 3Pm. 73 year old Yingqui Liu was crossing South Avenue  when he was struck by the driver of a van making a left turn from Forest Avenue in Staten Island.

According to Transportation Alternatives, while 3 people died in crashes on Forest Avenue since 2019, no major safety improvements have been made on Forest Avenue west of Morningstar Road  since Vision Zero started.

So far this year 223 people died in crashes in New York City, including 99 pedestrians. Among the victims 42 of them were 65 and older.

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Lithium ion battery can be dangerousFollowing the fire that recently erupted in a Manhattan Midtown high-rise  after an e-bike lithium battery exploded, the NYC Council finally held a hearing on several bills designated to prevent lithium battery accidents.

While some of the bills are supported by most, others are creating discontent among delivery workers who are the largest category of  e-bikes users.

  • Int 0656-2022 proposes that the FDNY develop an informational campaign to educate people about the fire risks posed by powered mobility devices.  FDNY fully supports this proposal and is already running such campaigns.
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70 people died in traffic accidents in New York City during the third quarter of 2022. Among the victims were 26 pedestrians, 4 cyclists, 15 motor vehicle passengers and 25 motor vehicle operators. Pedestrians and motor vehicle operators accounted for most of the deaths while passengers fatalities reached a record high.

Since Vision Zero started in 2014, auto accident fatalities gradually declined from 82 during the third quarter of 2013 to a record low of 56 fatalities during the third quarter of 2019. However, everything changed during the Covid19 crisis of 2020 when NYC streets were almost empty and speeding caused traffic fatalities to peak again and reach 77 during the third quarter of 2020. Since then, the number of fatalities during Q3 never went back below 70.

Auto accident fatalities NYC Q3 2022

While fatalities remained higher than usual, car accident injuries stayed lower than usual