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 pedestrian accident nyc

Published on:

city-seal-prThere were 93 traffic fatalities in New York City for the first 6 months of 2017. This is the first time since traffic accident data began being recorded in the City that this number went below 100. 203 people died in motor vehicle accidents in NYC for the full fiscal year that ended on June 30.

These numbers were announced a few days ago by Mayor Bill de Blasio. “No loss of life on our streets is acceptable, but under Vision Zero, we have seen continued and consistent progress, with traffic fatalities on the decline for three-and-a-half-years, strongly countering national trends,” said Mayor de Blasio.

Since 2014, the city has been taking multiple measures such as street redesign and traffic enforcement to try to make the streets safer for all New Yorkers. Pedestrians, especially children and seniors are the most at risk of being fatally struck by a car. Among the 93 people who died in traffic accidents, 47 of them were pedestrians. Respectively 63, 54 and 55 and  of them died during the same period of 2016, 2015 and 2014.

Published on:

11 people died in auto accidents in New York City last May compared to 20 in April and 18 for the same month a year ago. This is a the lowest number of traffic deaths recorded since March 2016 where the number was also 11. This record low number of auto accident deaths occurred despite traffic accidents reaching 20,689 during the same month. This is the highest number of monthly motor vehicle accidents ever recorded in the city. The month before there were 17,585 motor vehicle accidents and 19,911 in May last year.

Traffic accidents in the city have been on a rising trend.  However it is only the second time that this number is above 20,000. Before that, the monthly number of accidents only went above 20,000 once in October 2015. (Click on graphs for full size)

Auto Accidents NYC Monthly Graph
While the number of traffic accidents has been increasing steadily, the number of deaths related to theses accidents have been declining over the last 4 years. This decline may be explained by the various street safety initiatives that have been launched under the umbrella of the Vision Zero Program to reduce traffic deaths in the city.

Published on:

tow-truck-accident-location A pedestrian died in a tow truck accident in New York City last Friday. 70 year old Donna Hahl of Valley Stream was crossing Jamaica Ave when a tow truck driver making a turn from 217th Street onto Jamaica Ave struck her. The woman had the green light and was in the cross walk. The tow truck driver also had the green light but as he was making a left turn he not only had to yield to traffic coming in the opposite lane but also to pedestrians crossing at the same time. The tow truck driver identified as 29 year old Mandip Singh from Queens remained at the scene of the accident. When the EMS arrived they found the pedestrian lying on the street unconscious and with body trauma. They transported her to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.  The driver was arrested for failure to exercise due care and failure to yield to a pedestrian ( Read more in the Gothamist).

Our New York Truck Accident Lawyers team handled a very similar case a few years ago. The victim, a New York physician was biking on the New York Greenway by the Hudson River when a NYPD tow truck crashed into him. The driver didn’t exercise due care and turned onto Greenway without yielding to the bicyclist.  The impact was so strong that the bicyclist was propelled into the air and fell onto another truck. His head hit the hood. He was transported to the hospital with critical head trauma. He died from his injuries a few days later. The driver wasn’t charged despite not yielding at the intersection. The physician was an avid bicyclist and a marathon runner. He would do house calls on his bike but that night he was just enjoying a pleasant ride by the river with his wife. Our attorneys were able to recover $5 million for his widow.

Picture: location of the tow truck accident courtesy of Google Map

Published on:

A 96-year-old pedestrian died after a car backing out of a driveway hit her.  Last Tuesday, 96 year Ruth Cohn was talking a walk a block away from the Atria Riverdale senior home where  she lived when the accident occurred. She was struck by a car backing out of a driveway. She was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with legs and pelvic injuries. She died the next day. The driver, a 46 year old woman stayed at the scene of the accident. She wasn’t charged. Read more in the NY Daily News

With baby boomers reaching retirement age, many pedestrians walking in New York City streets are seniors.  They represent 13% of the whole population of New York City however they account for 39% of NYC pedestrian fatalities. According to the DOT, the senior pedestrians fatality rate is 4x that of younger New Yorkers. As part of the Vision Zero Initiative, the DOT is working on various projects to make the streets of New York City safer for the seniors. The complete DOT presentation can be downloaded here

pedestrian fatality NYC by age

Published on:

A NYC pedestrian died in a car accident Monday night. 28-year-old Gabriel Garcia was crossing E. 138th Street near Walton Ave in Mott Haven, Bronx, NYC when he was struck by a dark colored sedan with TLC plates. A Toyota Camry struck him right after. According to witnesses both drivers got out of their cars as the pedestrian was lying with his face down on the ground bleeding.  The two drivers then left the scene of the accident. The Toyota driver came back shortly after to talk to the police. The black sedan driver disappeared in the night. The pedestrian was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved. The police are still looking for the driver of the TLC car.

Published on:

accident sceneTwo pedestrians suffered personal injury in two separate car accidents Sunday night in New York City.

A college student from Columbia University who was crossing Riverside Drive at the intersection of 115th Street in Manhattan was struck by a hit and run driver. The accident occurred around 12:25 am. The student who is believed to be in his twenties suffered critical head injury. He was transported to the hospital where he is still fighting for his life. Approximately 90 minutes earlier a 53-year-old male pedestrian was hit by a dark-colored sedan at the corner of E. Tremont Ave and Purdy St. in the Bronx. The pedestrian suffered two broken legs and head trauma. He was transported to the hospital. As of Today he was in stable condition. So far nobody was arrested in relation to the two crashes.

Read more in the NY Daily News 

Published on:

A pedestrian died in a truck accident in New York City early Sunday morning. The truck never stopped after he hit the pedestrian and neither did several vehicles who also hit him after he fell on the ground. The truck hit the pedestrian around 2:30 am on Sunday morning as he was walking on the Northbound lane of the Cross Bronx Expressway near Castle Hill Ave.  The pedestrian died at the scene of the accident. The police are still investigating the hit and run.

Truck accidents have been on the rise in New York City over the last few years. Up until the beginning of 2016, the number of accidents in the city was contained below 1,000 a month, usually between 500 and 700 at the most. Over the last year, the monthly number of truck accidents has doubled and sometimes tripled in New York City. According to the most recent statistics from the NYPD, there were 1,571 truck accidents recorded in March 2017, compared to 1,017 in March 2016, 733 in March 2015 and 573 in March 14. Several factors such as the recent economic boom and the increase in the number of consumer goods being ordered through the internet may have contributed to this alarming increase in truck accident in NYC.Truck accidents NYC March 2017

 

Published on:

accident sceneA 46 old pedestrian died in NYC after a drugged driver struck him as he was crossing the street. 67 year old Jihne Niu was crossing the street at the intersection of 46th Ave and 149th Street in Flushing, Queens when the accident occurred. The driver, a 46 year old man who was drugged behind the wheel hit him with his car. He stayed at the scene of the accident and was arrested shortly after the police found out he was under the influence of drugs. Jihne Niu was rushed to the emergency room but couldn’t be saved. Read more in the NY Daily News.

Unfortunately, more people than usual were driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the celebration of Memorial Day. On Friday, Governor Cuomo announced that the New York State Police would be cracking down on this type of dangerous driving behaviour over the long week-end. Patrols were added all over the State of New York and sobriety check points were use to identify and arrest people driving under the influence. Unfortunately they couldn’t prevent all accidents. Last year during a similar operation over the Memorial Day Weekend York State Police arrested 225 drunk drivers and issued 12,000 tickets for various other violations  during the Hoilday. New York City also targeted drunk drivers. (read more here). In New York City, the NYPD, the DOT, the TLC and mayor de Blasio announced on Friday that the NYPD would also be cracking down on drunk drivers. Additionally the City of New York was offering  $10 off the ride of anyone taking a taxi on Friday night or Saturday night. Entitled “Know your limit” the campaign was encouraging New York City drivers to ride home in a taxi rather than drive back home under the influence. It seems strange though that the rebate was dd  not apply on Sunday night, one of the most busy nights of the long week-end (read more here).

Published on:

accident sceneA NYC pedestrian suffered critical personal injury after being struck by a motorcyclist who disappeared into the night. The  unidentified middle-aged woman was crossing Bruckner Boulevard at the intersection of Hunts Point Avenue in the Bronx, NYC, when she was struck by a motorcycle. She was in the crosswalk. She suffered serious head trauma and was rushed to the emergency room. She is still fighting for her life. The police are still looking for the reckless biker who was riding a red Suzuki sports motorcycle.

Read more in the NY Daily News 

Published on:

accident sceneA pedestrian was critically injured after an out of control SUV jumped the curb last Friday afternoon in Queens, NYC. The driver of the SUV was an elderly man who just came out of an appointment at a radiology center on Steinway Street in Astoria. His SUV was parked in front of the radiology center. As he was pulling out of the parking space, the driver suddenly accelerated. He mounted the sidewalk, hit the pedestrian violently and crashed into the wall of the radiology center. When the doctor came out he recognized his patient. The patient told the doctor that the accelerator pedal got stuck on the floorboard. The pedestrian was critically injured and was bleeding from the head. The driver also suffered serious injury. They were both transported to the hospital.