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Articles Posted in Bicycle Accidents

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accident sceneThe cyclist struck by a drunk and unlicensed driver in New York last Sunday is still in a coma. 55-year-old Nancy Pease was part of a group of 6,000 cyclists who were participating in the “NYC Century bike tour” organized by Transportation Alternatives. Nancy and a group of around 25 cyclists were waiting at a red light at 12th Ave and 39th Street in Borough Park, Brooklyn, when a minivan plowed into them. Several bicyclists were injured. Among them, Nancy who disappeared under the minivan as the driver literally drove over her.

The driver, 39-year-old Antonio Pina, was highly intoxicated. According to the police who arrested him he had a blood alcohol level of .287, three times the legal limit. Pina also told the police he didn’t have a driver’s license. He had been drinking margaritas and Coors light before driving his van. Witnesses saw him getting out of his parking space and crashing into another vehicle before accelerating and intentionally plowing into the group of cyclists. After he ran over the woman he got out of his car with bloodshot eyes and a disheveled appearance. As the police took him away he stuck his tongue out of his mouth looking crazy.

The FDNY had to remove Nancy Pease from under the van (see video below). Pease suffered serious physical injuries including a lacerated liver, abdominal bleeding and a traumatic brain injury. She had to undergo surgery and her spleen was removed. She is still in a coma according to the most recent news from the New York Post. A few other bicyclists also suffered injuries during the   accident.  They were treated for minor injuries at the scene of the accident and declined to go to the hospital.

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bicyclist and truck accident New York locationA cyclist suffered personal injury after being hit by a truck in New York yesterday morning. The accident occurred around 11:30 am at the intersection of West 30th Street and Seventh Ave.

A woman riding a Citi Bike and a dump truck were both waiting at the red light on 30th Street. When the light turned green, the bicyclist headed straight ahead while the truck made a right turn and hit her. The woman started to scream and the driver immediately stopped his truck. According to witnesses both the biker and the truck driver started to scream at each other. The woman was screaming “you hit me , you hit me” and the driver was screaming back at her “you were in my blind spot, you came out of nowhere! People at a nearby pizzeria ran out of the store and pulled the victim from under the truck. Her leg was badly mangled. An emergency crew arrived a little after and took her to Bellevue Hospital to be treated. She suffered serious injury to her leg but her life was not endangered. The truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident. He wasn’t charged.

The intersection at 30th Street and Seventh Ave is dangerous and was the scene of many previous accidents. According to the Vision Zero map, in 2009 3 pedestrians, 1 cyclist and 2 motorists were injured in crashes at this intersection. In 2010, 2 motorists and 1 cyclist suffered injury. In 2011, 2 pedestrians, 1 cyclist and 8 motorists were injured. In 2012, 1 motorist, 1 cyclist and 5 pedestrians were hurt in collisions at this location. In 2013, 2 pedestrians, 2 cyclists and 1 motorist were injured. In 2014 another motorist as well as 3 cyclists were injured in accidents at this intersection. In 2015, again 3 cyclists and a motorist were injured in crashes at the same location. Last year again 3 other cyclists, one pedestrian and one motorist were injured in crashes at this intersection. This year so far, before yesterday’s accident, one motorist suffered injury after an accident at this location.  Also this year a bicyclist died in a crash just a block away at the intersection of West 29th Street and 7th Avenue. In 2014 a pedestrian died in a crash on West 31st and 7th Ave.

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accident sceneTwo people were seriously injured in bicycle accidents in New York City yesterday. One accident occurred in Brooklyn, the other one in Manhattan. In the first accident, a reckless driver slammed into a bicyclist near the intersection of Washington Ave and Willoughby Ave in Fort Green. The impact was so intense that the bicyclist landed on the hood of the blue four-door Subaru that struck him. He then crashed into the windshield as the driver kept on going. The bicyclist suffered critical injury. He was rushed to the hospital. He is expected to survive. The car was found a few blocks away. The police are still looking for the hit and run driver. (Read more in the NY Daily News)

In the second accident, a NYPD cruiser collided with a bicyclist in Manhattan. The accident occurred near Union Square by the intersection of Fifth Ave and 14th Street. The cruiser was responding to suspicious package alert. According to the police the cruiser was traveling at a low speed in the middle of the street with the siren on when their cruiser struck the bicyclist who was riding in the opposite direction. The 43-year old bicyclist suffered head trauma and was transported to the hospital. He was reported in critical but sable condition.The police cruiser stayed at the scene of the accident. (Read more in the NY Daily News)

Also early this morning a 30-year-old motorcyclist died after crashing into the back of a truck delivering bread. The accident occurred on Broadway near Arion Place under the elevated Subway tracks in Buschwick, Brooklyn. The police are still investigating the exact cause of the accident. (Read more in the NY Daily News)

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A man suffered severe injury in a bicycle accident in New York City last Thursday. The police are still looking for the driver who hit him but fled.

59 year old Lorenzo Anderson was riding his bike in Astoria, Queens last Thursday  night around 10:45 pm when he was hit by a speeding Mercedes on 36th Ave . He was about a mile away from his home. The driver of the Mercedes then made a left onto 11th Street and stopped his car. He then exited it and ran off.  The passenger of the car didn’t flee. He was taken into custody to be questioned. Anderson was critically injured and transported to the hospital. He is still recovering from his injuries. (Read more in the NY Daily News)

Earlier last week, another bicyclist was the victim of a hit and run accident in New York City. 45 year old Greg Keller was riding his bike on Worth Street in Manhattan when a reckless driver started tailgating him. At one point the driver struck the back of the bicycle as he was trying to pass a car. Greg fell from his bike while the diver promptly took off. Horrified witnesses chased the car until the driver stopped.  He was forced to get back to the bicyclist and told him “Hey it was me I’m sorry.'”  The driver was then questioned by the police and issued a summons for failure to yield. The bicyclist was transported to the hospital to be treated for ligament damage to his shoulder. The police never questioned the bicyclist. Therefore after coming out of the hospital Greg Keller went to the precinct to add his personal feedback to the report.  The police told him the report was already completed and he “was making it worse for himself”. (Read more in the Gothamist)

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96 people died and 27,923 suffered personal injuries in 110,992 motor vehicle accidents in New York City during the first 6 months of 2017 based on the most recent statistics released by the NYPD.

This is the first time that the number of people dying in NYC traffic accidents during the first six months of the year is below 100.  In 2013, before Mayor de Blasio launched Vision Zero, 121 people died in auto accidents in the city during the same period. Vision Zero was launched at the beginning of 2014 and since then the total number of people dying in NYC crashes slowly decreased from 110 during the first semester of 2014 to 107 during the first semester of 2015 and the first semester of 2016. It dropped to 96 for the same period of 2017. Multiple Vision Zero measures such as the reduction of the city speed limit to 25 mph as well as the installation of cameras may have contributed to this decline in fatal crashes.

traffic accident deaths in NYC for the first semester of 2013 to 2017
The decrease in traffic deaths in New York City occurred despite a significant increase in crashes over the last 4 years. In 2013, 99,474 crashes were reported to the NYPD during the first semester. This number increased steadily to 100,834 in 2014 and 104,636 in 2015. It then jumped to 111,588 in 2016. It decreased slightly during the first six months of this year to stabilize at 110,992. Distracted driving is the most common factor in these accidents.

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bicycle garbage truck accident locationA garbage truck fatally hit a bicyclist in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NYC early Saturday morning. The driver didn’t stop.  27-year-old Neftaly Ramirez had just finished his shift at a Brooklyn Pizzeria. He was biking home to the Lower East Side around 12:30 am. As he was riding on Franklin Street near Noble Street in Greenpoint, a garbage truck driving South on Franklin hit him. The garbage truck driver continued on his way leaving the bicyclist dying in the street behind him. The investigation is still ongoing and the police haven’t apprehended the truck driver yet. Therefore it is still unclear if the driver was aware that he hit someone. Ramirez was found by the police with trauma all over his body. He was pronounced dead by EMS soon after their arrival at the scene of the accident.

Franklin Ave in Greeenpoint is a link between Kent Ave and the Pulaski bridge. It is narrow but busy with traffic day and night. According to a local resident, trucks are “flying down the street all night”. There is a shared bike and motor vehicle lane that is completely unprotected (see picture). A large electronic sign was installed at the location of the accident  by the police to ask potential witnesses to report information. Detectives were also looking for potential footage from security cameras. So far the police said that the truck that hit Ramirez was green with white with yellow lettering. It was most probably a private garbage truck. Private dump trucks are among the most dangerous vehicles for pedestrians and bicyclists. They have the highest NYC pedestrian-kill rate per mile driven. One may hope that the police may finally launch a safety initiative directed at private garbage trucks but that is not what happening. The police were seen on Sunday afternoon ticketing bicyclists on Franklin Ave.

Read more in Streetblog

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bicycle accident location 5 people died in bicycle accidents in New York City over the last 4 weeks.  The most recent accident occurred two days ago in Brooklyn. A 47-year-old man was riding his bike on Rochester Avenue when he was hit by a SUV at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue. The driver of the SUV was a 19-year-old woman. She wasn’t charged.

According to  Brad Aaron from NYC Streetblog, the police officer on the scene blamed the victim and told the media that the bicyclist ran a red light. However according to Brad Aaron, the investigation is ongoing and the officer’s statement was probably negative speculation. Unfortunately NYPD officers present at the scene of bicycle accidents have a bad habit of blaming the victims and to protect the drivers (see also previous blog).

Atlantic Avenue is a very dangerous artery and the DOT is planning to redesign the avenue. However the DOT has no no plans to change this particular intersection. Maybe they will change their mind after this accident.

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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.

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9 cyclists died in bicycle accidents in New York City during the first 6 months of 2017 according to recent articles by Aidan Gardiner in DNA Info. During the same period of time last year 12 bicyclists died in New York City and respectively 5, 10 and 7 in 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.  Indeed despite the launch of Vision Zero  in 2014 and after a drop in 2015, the number of bicycle accident fatalities was higher most of the time  than what it was in 2013 before Vision Zero was launched.  The main reason why the number of  cyclists fatalities remain high is because the number of people using bikes in New York City has been exploding over the last few years. According to data from the NYC DOT (see graph below), the number of people commuting to their work by bike has grown by 80% between 2010 and 2015, faster than in any American city.

bicycling statistics NYC
A better way to find out if the streets are safer for New York City bicyclists is to compare the ratio of cyclists deaths to the number of commuters for example. In 2013 this ratio was 10/37589 = 0.026%, in 2014 it was 5/41,789=0.011% and in 2015 10/44,976=0.022%. This ratio indicates that streets were safer in 2014 and 2015 than they were in 2013. However the ratio also showed that when Vision Zero was launched in 2014  street safety for bicyclists increased significantly but then dissipated after the launch. The data shows that street safety for bicyclists must be an everyday focus at all levels of the Vision Zero program.

The NYC DOT also calculates the New York City Cycling Risk. This indicator compares the Bicyclists Severe Injuries and Fatalities (KSI) to the estimated million cycling trips taken in New York City every year. According to the most recent report of the DOT, the bicycling risk has been constantly decreasing since 2000 and was at its lowest in 2014 (see graph below).

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A bicyclist was severely injured by a reckless driver who was chased by the police. The driver identified as 28 year old Raheem Addison had 25 license suspensions in 12 different states and 21 prior arrests. He had been partying for hours at a pride event before getting behind the wheel of a car parked in a Midtown garage. As he left the garage he almost hit a family. Someone alerted the police. When the police arrived near the garage, they saw the man parked outside the garage, in the driver’s seat. When he saw them, the young driver took off. The police started to chase him in the middle of one of the most populated areas of Midtown Manhattan. The driver, who was intoxicated, crossed the double line on 34th street before making a left turn and enter 7th Ave in the wrong direction. He hit a 32 year old bicyclist, severely injuring him and continued his erratic driving almost hitting other pedestrians who had to jump out of the way of the car to avoid him. The driver drove the wrong way for two blocks, turned on 26th street and shortly later abandoned the car running away on foot. Police eventually found him and he was taken into custody. The owner of the car who was seated next to him as a passenger during the entire chase was released without charges. The bicyclist who was ejected across the street at the time of the accident was transported to the hospital with critical injuries. He is now in serious but stable condition.

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