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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3 pedestrians are in critical condition after a drunk driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed into them in Jackson Heights, Queens, NYC.

The accident occurred around 4:20 am early Saturday morning at the intersection of Northern Boulevard and 86th Street. A video surveillance shows the 3 young men aged 25, 28 and 32, chatting at the corner of the intersection of the two streets when suddenly a SUV traveling at a high rate of speed lost control of his vehicle as he was trying to pass another car and slammed into the pedestrians.

The 23 year old driver of the SUV was taken into custody and is expected to be charged with DWI.

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e-scooterA young man riding his electrical scooter was killed in a crash in Brooklyn, NYC, last Saturday.

The accident occurred in Bensonhurst around 12:50 pm. 22 year old Qiu Rifeng was riding his electrical scooter on the sidewalk. As he tried to cross the intersection of 18th Avenue and 74th Street he got struck by a car that was heading South on 18th Avenue. The driver, a 23 year old behind the wheel of a Kia sedan, remained at the scene of the accident and wasn’t charged. The victim who was riding his e-scooter without a helmet went flying and suffered severe head injuries as he landed on the ground.  He was rushed to the hospital but did not survive his injuries. He was living just a block away from where he was fatally struck.

Second deadly accident in a decade in the area

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Sherman-Avenue-were-the-deadly-crash-occuredTwo pedestrians are dead, and 5 car occupants are seriously injured including 3 in critical condition after two cars crashed on dangerous Sherman Avenue in Inwood. The accident occurred on Wednsday early morning around 4:00 am on Sherman Avenue near the intersection of West 207th Street. 31 year old Joel Adames from Manhattan and 40 year old David Fernandez from the Bronx were walking on the sidewalk of Sherman Avenue when two cars collided and one of them jumped the curb and fatally struck the two men. Fernandez was a beloved local barber and both friends had just left the barber shop location and were walking on the sidewalk when the accident occurred.

A total of 5 occupants were in the BMW and the Subaru, when the BMW driver who was travelling North on Sherman Avenue veered onto the Southbound lane and collided with the Subaru that was travelling South. The Subaru then jumped the curb and killed the two pedestrians.  The 3 occupants of the Subaru were critically injured and rushed to the hospital. Two other people who were car occupants were also injured.

Sherman Avenue is a dangerous speedway where crashes are common

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Traffic fatalities on the rise in the Bronx NYCAn 18 year old man was critically injured in an e-bike accident in the Bronx, NYC. The accident occurred on Saturday morning on Schley Avenue near the Throggs Neck Houses NYCHA complex. The young man who was was riding his e-bike on the sidewalk changed paths and moved onto the roadway when he got side-swiped by the SUV.  He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition where he is still struggling for his life. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident. He was questioned by the police and was not charged. (reads more in AMNY)

Micro-mobility device users need to be better protected in the Bronx

While the police do not suspect any criminality, the accident  clearly highlights that infrastructures protecting cyclists and pedestrians alike are still missing in the Bronx, especially in family housing areas where it is expected that young people are riding their bikes around.  Compared to Manhattan and Queens where 75% of the protected bike lanes are installed in the city, only 6% of the bike lanes are installed in the Bronx, even though an equal percentage of residents use micro-mobility devices in every borough. Every New Yorker should be equally protected while they ride their bike, e-bike or e-scooter.

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speed cameras to reduce crashes in NYCIn an effort to reduce car accident fatalities and serious injuries in New York City,  more than 2000 speed cameras located in 750 school zones throughout the 5 boroughs of New York City will be turned on 24/7 365 days a year, starting August 1st, 2022.

Speed cameras that used to be turned on weekdays from 6:00 am to 10:00 am have proven to be one of the most effective ways to reduce speeding in the city. Statistics from the NYC DOT show that speeding was reduced by more than 70% at locations where speed cameras were installed.

With many dangerous crashes caused by speeding occurring at night time and during week-ends, the DOT strongly believes that the new speed camera schedule will help curb these type of crashes.

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52 pedestrians, 5 cyclists, 27 passengers and 29 motor vehicle operators died in crashes in New York City during the first semester of 2022 compared to respectively 58, 5, 16 and 39 during the first 6 months of 2021.  The total number of fatalities comes to 113  for the period under review compared to 118 for the same period a year earlier. While the total number of crash fatalities slightly declined for the first six months of 2022 compared to the first six months of 2021, it remains much higher than any other years since Vision Zero started. Pedestrian fatalities slightly declined, cyclists fatalities remained stable and while drivers fatalities were less, passenger deaths hit a record high.

car accident deaths New York semester 1 2022
Crash injuries in New York City during the first semester increased from 22,898 in 2021 to 23,963 in 2022. While the increase is significant it remains below the number of injuries reported before the covid19 crisis. Pedestrian injuries went up from 3,128 to 4,005 as well as passenger injuries from 5,492 to 7,361. Cyclist injuries declined from 2,303 to 2,027 and driver injuries as well from 10,975 to 10,570.

NYC crash injuries sem 1 2022

New York Pedestrian fatalities remain above 50 during the first six months of the year

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Forsyth and Houston where the fatal hit and run crash occurred21 year old Andy Eduardo Gil was killed in a hit and run accident in Manhattan. The accident occurred on Houston Street at the intersection of Forsyth Street just one block away from where NYU student Raife Miligan was killed by a drunk driver  in May (see previous blog) and a few blocks away from where another hit and run driver killed 23 year old Borkot Ullah, a delivery cyclist in 2021. According to workers who were able to see a video surveillance of the accident, the car was speeding when the driver hit the pedestrian who was in the crosswalk.

According to a recent article in Transportation Alternatives, speeding is quite common on Houston Street. The speeding camera installed at the intersection of East Houston and Avenue C issued 18,870 tickets in the fiscal year of 2021 which is the equivalent of a ticket every 13 minutes of operations which is 6:00 am to 10:00 pm during weekdays only until August 1st. Starting August 1st speed cameras will be turned on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the city and hopefully will deter drivers speeding at night or during the week-end.

Houston Street is a very dangerous corridor of downtown Manhattan and Transportation Alternatives mentions that it was redesigned and the width of the travel lanes were enlarged which resulted in increased speeding.  The city promised in late 2020 to install “enhanced crossing” for pedestrians but so far nothing has been done.

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leg crushed in car accidentA FDNY firefighter was seriously injured while trying to rescue victims of a car crash in Manhattan during which the driver of a black BMW with “Medical Doctor” plates drove over the side of a white SUV.

On Sunday afternoon, around 3:20 pm. Matthew Wahn and his wife Randy from Bayside, Queens were on their way to grab some food in downtown Manhattan. As they were sitting  in their SUV, waiting at the red light at the intersection of West 42nd Street and 11th Avenue,  a black BMW literally drove  up on the side of their car.  Miraculously the couple was not injured and was able to exit their car. However firefighters had to be called to the  to free the occupants of the BMW and one them got seriously injured during the rescue.

The injured firefighter is Ryan Warnock who, just a week before, found the little boy under the boat that capsized in the Hudson River

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Ghost bike showing locations of previous NYC deadly bicycle accidentsThe NYPD just announced that an e-bike rider was killed in a an accident in Manhattan on July 11th around 12:40 am. The accident occurred on the Second Avenue bike lane near 89th Street. For reasons that so far are unknown, the cyclist who was a delivery person, lost control of the bike and hit a pole. He suffered traumatic brain injury and was pronounced dead upon his arrival to the hospital.

Another young delivery man on a bike died in a crash in the Bronx a week before.  21 year old Christian Castelan was killed by a hit and run driver at the intersection of East 172nd Street and Metcalf Avenue in the Bronx. According to witnesses, a white jeep that had been reported stolen a week before, turned too fast, hit the young cyclist and pinned him against another car. As witnesses ran to help the victim and gathered around him, the driver, a woman, got out of the car, picked up a baby on the back seat and got on board of another car that came to pick her up. Witnesses did not even notice she disappeared.  Christian Castelan had just turned 21 year old last May. He was born in New York and then returned to Mexico when he was a young boy. After he turned 18, he returned to the Bronx and worked as a food delivery person. A vigil was held last Thursday night.

Also in the Bronx, five days earlier, another e-bike rider was killed in a car accident. 26 year old Victoriano Angeles was driving his e-bike on St. Ann’s Ave in Mott Haven in the Bronx when he collided with a 2013 Chevrolet Impala.

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Hylan and Richard where the 3 teens died in a crash3 teenagers who were passengers in a Mustang driven by another teenager were killed in a car crash in New York City on Sunday night. The horrific accident occurred around 8:50 pm on Hylan Boulevard at the intersection of Richard Avenue in Pleasant Plain, Staten Island, NYC. The victims are Ashley Rodriguez who was planning to celebrate her sweet 16 next week, 15 year old Jessie Gil and 16 year old Fernanda Gil. All 3 were passengers in a red Ford Mustang driven by a 16 year old boy who only had a learners permit and was supposed to drive while accompanied by a licensed adult. The 3 passengers are dead and the driver remains in critical condition.

According to the SI Live the group of friends had just attended a birthday party in Tottenville and had decided to go grab snacks at a nearby store with another group of teens riding a Honda Civic. The Mustang departed the group at high speed according to witnesses.  The young driver was speeding east on Hylan Boulevard when a 47 year old diver behind the wheel of a Yukon attempting to make a left turn from Richard Avenue crashed into the side of the Mustang which then careened into a pole on the side of the road.

The driver of the Yukon was driving with a suspended license and was taken into custody while his four passengers, two women of 44 and 19 year old, a 23 year old man and an 11 year old girl were transported to the hospital. They suffered minor injuries.