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 Tagged with New York Bicycle Accident

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Bike lane in front of Flor de Mayo restaurantCyclists travelling at a high rate of  speed in bike lanes crossing outdoor dining areas  in New York City are putting restaurant staff and clients at danger and a restaurant owner who tried to put speed bumps on the bike lane had the DOT remove them shortly after.

After an e-bike rider almost hit a child in front of his restaurant, Jose Chu, the owner of Flor de Mayo bought two plastic speed bumps and installed them in front of his restaurant.  Flor de Mayo is located in the Upper West Side on Amsterdam Avenue between 83rd and 84th Streets. Cyclists and e-bikes are constantly zipping through the popular bike lane with e-bikes often going 20 miles an hour near the restaurant sheds. While Shu  says speedy cyclists “are an accident waiting to happen'”,  Upper West Side cyclists were pretty quick at denouncing the speed bumps on social media and calling them “an accident waiting to happen”. A  cyclist tweeted a pic of the new bumps and mentioned that  her bike severely jolted as she rode over them. Bike advocates followed up on the tweet asking officials to remove them and the DOT got quickly involved. 24h later, a  NYC Department of Transportation employee showed up at the restaurant front door and asked Chu to remove the speed bumps. The employee mentioned that the speed bumps were illegal and caused a hazard to cyclists. He told Chu that restaurants had to use signs asking cyclists to slow down.

When interviewed by the West Side Rag, Chu said he already has signs but cyclists simply ignored them. That is why he tried a new tactic. He said he tried to go over the speed bumps with a bike and it was fine  as long as he was going slowly.

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location of the collision between the truck and the bicyclistA bicyclist died after being struck by a truck in Harlem, New York on Friday morning around 8:30 am

The driver of the truck was driving illegally on the bus-only lane on First Avenue near 118th Street when he  struck the 41 year old bicyclist. The police also mentioned that the bicyclist was riding the wrong way.  The truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident and was asked to submit himself to the breathalyzer which came out negative. He was not charged despite recklessly travelling on the bus lane while he was supposed to drive on the 3 other traffic lanes of First Ave.

While looking at past traffic violations, the truck has a a history of recklessness with 159 violations since 2014 including red lights and speeding.  The cyclist seemed to have been crushed between the truck and a car that was illegally parked in front of a “No Standing Anytime” sign. The victim is the 24th bicyclists to die in a traffic accident this year. He is also was one of two victims who died in a traffic accident in East Harlem this week-end. Read more in the Gothamist

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location of the bicycle accident on Second AvenueAround 20 people are injured in bicycle accidents in New York City every day. The majority of these accidents are cyclists struck by cars. When a cyclist is struck by a motor vehicle, the injuries are often serious because cyclists do not have any protection expect sometimes for their helmet which is not mandatory in New York City.

Most common injuries sustained by cyclists in a crash are head injuries

Head injuries account for around half of bicycle accident injuries. They can lead to long term disabilities especially for those cyclists who suffered traumatic injury such as skull fracture, cranial hemorrhage, concussion or contusion. Other frequent injuries sustained when a cyclist is hit by a car are fractures and dislocation  including facial, dental and ribs fractures. Internal organs are often injured as well and ruptured spleen, pancreatic trauma, bowel and renal contusions as well as hernia are frequent. Cyclists also frequently get impaled by their handle bar resulting in life-threatening injuries.

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location of the e-bike colision with SUVA driver fatally struck an e-bike rider in New York and then fled the scene of the accident. 42 year old Ernesto Guzman of East Harlem was delivering a pizza on his e-bike yesterday around 4:30 pm when a black Chevrolet Tahoe SUV with TLC plates crashed into him. The driver then left, leaving the man dying on the street. The accident occurred in East Harlem at the intersection of E. 97th Street and Second Avenue. The Police found the vehicle abandoned by the driver on E. 96th Street. They are still looking for the runaway driver. The victim had delivery bags with him and a witness at a nearby Deli told the NY Daily News that they flew 3 feet away during the collision.  The witness also mentioned that the victim was badly injured with a lot of blood coming out of his head.

When EMS and the police arrived, they transported the victim to a hospital emergency room which was just yards away from the scene of the accident but it was too late. Ernesto Guzman was so badly injured that he passed away.

The police are still investigating the accident. According to preliminary investigation, the e-bike rider was driving south on Second Ave when he was hit by the SUV driving  West on 97th Street.

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twitter cyclist injuredA cyclist was injured  in Manhattan, NYC, last weekend after he hit a wooden platform erected in a bike lane by a rest. Alex Sirken was riding his bike on Seventh Ave South when he hit a wooden platform left on the bike lane by Ofrenda, a Mexican restaurant in the East Village.

While the DOT  has been allowing restaurants to temporary set up tables for outdoor dining mostly in parking spaces in the streets of New York City, the guidelines are clear and do not allow restaurants to install seating areas on “No Stopping Anytime or No Standing Anytime zone, bike lane, bus lane/stop, taxi stand, or car share space”.

Ofrenda was not the only offender, other restaurants such as El Camino Cantina in the East Village were also reported blocking the bike lane with tables.

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Location of the MTA bus accidentA 19 year old female bicyclist was killed in a MTA bus accident yesterday.  The young woman was struck by the BmX10 bus on Fifth Avenue at the corner of the 59th Street intersection.

It is still not exactly clear how the accident occurred. A hot dog vendor who witnessed the accident told the NY Daily News that it seemed that the young woman was trying to merge into traffic from 60th street and that she was struck by the bus and then dragged under the wheels for about half a block until the bus driver stopped.

The cyclist died at the scene of the accident from severe head trauma. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident. Despite its proximity to Central Park, Fifth Avenue doesn’t have a bike lane in the Upper East Side area, therefore the many cyclists coming out of the Park at this location have to navigate between the buses and the car traffic which can be very dangerous on this busy avenue.

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location of the bicycle and dump truck accidentA 25 year old cyclist was killed by a garbage truck in New York early Sunday morning. Matt Travis is the 28th person to die in a bicycle accident in New York City this year. Matt was riding South on the Willis Ave Bridge bike path when a dump truck made an illegal U-turn to get on the bridge from a service road (technically 1st Avenue, see map) and fatally struck him. The driver then fled the scene of the accident. The police indicated that they are looking for him but they haven’t released any information yet.

Matt was found by the police lying on the street with severe trauma. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Matt Travis was a rising star pro wrestler and a student at the House of Glorty Wrestling School in Queens. He was recently interviewed by Vice magazine about his passion. Friends and fans have been posting tributes to the young man on social media and at the location of the accident.

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Donna Strum was fatally struck by a cyclistOn April 24th, 41 year old Dameon Doward was riding his bike on 57th Street.  He ran a red light at the mid-block traffic signal between Fifth and Sixth Ave and struck Donna Sturm who was crossing the street in the crosswalk after the light turned green for pedestrians. Sturm died two week later from her injuries. Daemon Doward  was initially issued a summons for running the red light. However, he was arrested yesterday by the police and charged with second degree reckless endangerment, a top level misdemeanor that could send him in jail for a year.

Doward was delivering food at the time of the accident. Those who hire bicyclists for deliveries of their products need to provide safety instructions, appropriate supervision and insurance coverage in the event of negligence leading to injuries and deaths.

Our managing partner, Ben Rubinowitz is representing the family of Dona Sturm and the following statement was issued after her death on behalf of the family:  “Donna Sturm was a vibrant, energetic and wonderful woman who died as a result of carelessness and negligence. She died because a bicyclist completely disregarded the law. She was crossing a street, in the crosswalk, with the light in her favor when she was struck. Unfortunately, she suffered horrific head injuries and, although the doctors tried their best over the last week, they were unable to save her life,”

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cyclist-nyc-e15620847726003 people died in bicycle accidents in NYC during the last 7 days.

Last Monday Robyn Hightman, a bike courier, was fatally struck by a truck on 6th Ave near 25th Street. Both the truck and the cyclist were heading in the same direction when they collided. The truck driver first didn’t stop but then returned to the scene of the accident after a witness in another car told him he hit someone. the driver told the police he didn’t know he hit the cyclist. Police said the driver was let go after he was hit with five summonses. The driver, 54 year old Antonio Garcia said it was the first time he had an accident since he started to work for his employer 14 years ago. However a look at the Howsmydrivingnyc.com indicates that the truck was hit with 83 violations since 2015 mostly for parking but also for speeding. A vigil was organized for Robyn during which hundreds of cyclists gathered and expressed not only their sadness but also their anger at authorities that are doing very little to hold drivers accountable. Robyn was the 12th cyclist in New York City to be killed in traffic this year.

Last Thursday night  around 9:00 pm, 57 year old Ernest Askew was fatally struck by an 18 year old driver on Sutter Avenue near Chester in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The car driver wasn’t arrested. Brownsville which is a low income community of color doesn’t have any protected bike lanes and there are not many efforts being made in regards to street safety. Cyclists share wide roadways with cars and speeding is common. At a vigil for Ernest Askew yesterday evening activists asked the city to address the lack of equity in low-income communities of color when it comes to protected bike lanes and street safety.

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32 people have been injured in bicycle accidents on Second Ave between 59th street and 68th street in Manhattan, with many accidents occurring at the intersection of 59th street and Second Avenue which is the entrance of the 59th Street Bridge.

Until recently, bicyclists who were riding South on Second Avenue used a protected bike lane until 68th Street and then had to ride through a dangerous gap in front of the 59th Street bridge entrance to then go back on the protected bike lane. The DOT was supposed to fill the bike lane gap last summer but the installation was delayed to this spring. The work is now almost completed.

This is good news for the estimated 3000 cyclists who use the Second Avenue bike lane and the estimated 6000 people crossing the Queensboro bridge by bike every day.  The changes include the addition of a bike lane that would be protected by cars during off-peak hours and that would turn into a curbside buffered bike lane during rush hours. A pedestrian and a bicycle crossing were added at the entrance of the Queensboro bridge to allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross on the East Side of  Second Ave.  An island and a tip extension were also built to shorten the pedestrian and bicycle crossing.

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