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 Auto Accidents

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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

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KIa-challengeAn ongoing “Kia Challenge” instructing Tiktok followers on how to steal Kia or Hyundai cars with a USB charging cord and encouraging users to post videos of their joy rides caused the deaths of 4 teenagers in Buffalo, NY.

19 year old Marcus Webster, 17 year old Swazine Swindel, 16 year old Kevin Payne and 14 year old Ahjanae Harper were passengers in a stolen Kia driven by a 16 year old boy who lost control of the car and crashed it. The four of them  died in the crash. Harper had just gave given birth to a baby daughter. The driver and another 15 year old passenger survived the accident.

The young driver has been charged with criminal possession of stolen property and unauthorized used of a vehicle. He is due to appear in court in November.

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Mulberry and Canal where the bicycle accident occurredA cyclist suffered injury after a driver ran a red light and struck him on Canal Street. The cyclist had a camera mounted on his helmet and the entire accident was caught on camera showing not only the cyclist proceeding with caution but also the driver clearly running the red light.

The cyclist, a 37 year old IT technician was riding north on Mulberry Street. As he arrived at the intersection of Canal he stopped at the red light. As the light turned red for the cars on Canal Street the cyclist peaked to his left – the black Acura who later on hit him is still so far away that it seems obvious that the driver would stop at the light  – and waited for the green light on Mulberry to proceed. As he started to pedal through the intersection and 14 seconds after the light had turned red on Canal, the driver of the Acura just drove through the red light and crashed into him.  The cyclist screamed and fell on the pavement in agony. He lied in the street for more than a minute until the driver came out of his car and excused himself telling him he didn’t see him because the sun was in his eyes.

The driver was on the phone with 911 and EMTs showed up a few minutes later. The cyclist couldn’t move and mentioned pain in his back and leg.

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Vision Zero Cities 2022Transportation Alternatives “Vision Zero Cities” conference started yesterday and continues until Friday at the end of the day.  Participants can still register for selected segments.

The conference was held online yesterday with an in-person Vision Zero Cities 2022 Opening Reception hosted at Liberty Park at World Trade Center last night.

Today, sessions will be hosted in person at the Center for Architecture at 536 Laguardia Place in Manhattan.

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accident sceneReckless driving was a factor in multiple deadly crashes in New York City that occurred at the end of last week.

  • The first accident occurred Friday early morning, around 2:30 am when a 23 year old driver identified as Ravinder Singh who was drunk behind the wheel killed his 29 year old passenger Harjot Singh,  in a wrong way crash on the Brooklyn-Queens-Expressway. The driver is now facing several charges including criminally negligent homicide and drunk driving. (read more in the NY Daily News)
  • A few hours later. around 6:30 am  another deadly wrong way accident occurred, involving a car and an ambulance that was transporting a victim that was previously hit by another car (see previous blog). The victim, a mother of two young children, died and several EMS members were injured and hospitalized.
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ocation of the deadly crash in Staten IslandA woman died and 4 others suffered personal injury after a car crashed into an ambulance. The accident occurred last Friday morning around 6:30 am in Westerleigh, Staten Island, NYC.

The pedestrian was first  injured after being struck by a car as she was stepping out of her home

35 year old, Maria Martinez, a mother of two children had just stepped out of her home and was walking to the bus stop when she was struck by a car while crossing Jewett Avenue. The car was a Dodge charger and the driver remained at the location of the accident and was questioned by the police. So far he has not been charged. When the emergency team arrived with the ambulance at the location of the accident, they found the victim in critical condition. Paramedics quickly got her in the ambulance they were driving down Maine Avenue in the wrong way in an attempt to reach the hospital faster and save Maria’s life. Ambulances are authorized to do so when the life of someone is endangered.

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Granny road where the deadly crash occurredPolice are looking for a hit and run driver who struck two siblings, killing one and injuring the other in a car accident in Coram, NY. 

The crash occurred last Wednesday night around 7:30 pm on Granny Road near the intersection of Middle Island Road. Tyler Philips and Krystal Randolph, both 13 year old, were walking back home from the park. They were heading west in the bike lane when a motorist travelling in the same direction hit them. The car driver never stopped. The teenagers were walking in the bike lane because there were no sidewalks.

“Tyler is a hero” said his grieving mom

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A beloved and popular truck driver died and his customer suffered serious personal injury in a multiple vehicle crash caused by a drunk driver on the Long Island Expressway in Queens.

The accident occurred last Saturday night around 3:30 am. 47 year old Carlos Santiago (Campy), a tow truck driver working for Knights Towing and the father of 3 children, was sent on a call to help a stranded driver in a Nissan on the Long Island Expressway near exit 19 in Elmhurst, Queens.

Drunk driver responsible for chain collision that ended killing Campy and seriously injuring his customer

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car accidentAEB technology consists of  front facing cameras and various sensors that will automatically make your car break when an accident is imminent. However if your are behind the wheels of a vehicle equipped with AEB, you should be aware that this new technology is only reliable in specific cases.

Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) is now standard equipment in almost every new car. Starting September 2022, the 20 automakers representing 99% of the US market have pledged to integrate AEB technology in all their new cars.

Recently AAA released the results of an in-depth study that includes testing with 4 different car models and found that while AEB is a technology that should definitely be used in every car, it is reliable only in some specific situations and  needs to be developed further.

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NYPDA police officer driving a NYPD car and responding to a call for a stolen car lost control of his vehicle, jumped the curb and slammed his the cruiser into multiple pedestrians that were on the sidewalk. Among them were a mother, her 5  year old daughter and the grand-mother who were on their way to the grocery store.

The crash occurred Thursday afternoon around 3:pm in the Longwood section of the Bronx at the intersection of Westchester Avenue and Hoe Avenue. A surveillance video shows the NYPD cruiser travelling at a high rate of speed, crossing the yellow line and driving against traffic. As the NYPD cruiser approached the intersection, a civilian car started to make a left turn. The cruiser clipped the front of the car and careened toward the sidewalk. It then jumped the curb and hit 4 pedestrians and a traffic pole that fell onto two other pedestrians. Among the 4 pedestrians that were directly struck by the NYPD cruiser were  the 5 year old daughter, mother and grand mother and another man. Additionnally 2 people in the car that was about to make a left turn were injured and one of them was a 2 year old child. The two police officers in the cruiser also suffered injury. A total of 10 people were transported to the hospital. According to the NYPD 4 of them suffered life-threatening injuries including the 5 year-old child and the man who was ran over by the cruiser.

Read more in the NY Daily News