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Articles Posted in Bicycle Accidents

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In New York  City’s heavy traffic, bicyclists who are commuting to work are facing the risk of being injured or dying in a bicycle accident. As part of the Vision Zero initiative, Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to make New York City a friendly city for bike commuters. Protected bike lanes have proven to be one of the best ways to protect bicyclist from injury or death by negligent car drivers. Unlike regular bike lanes, that are often blocked by cars, protected bike lanes physically separate car traffic and bicycles with concrete, trees or parking lanes.

In 2016 the DOT will implement 15 miles of these types of bike lanes in the City. Last year 12 miles were added. Among this year’s projects, the DOT has work planned and in progress in the following areas of the city’s five boroughs:

  • In the Bronx: using excess roadway space on the accident prone area of Bruckner Boulevard between Hunts Point and Longwood Ave to create a protected bike lane (read more on Streetblog and download DOT PDF here )Protected bike lane Bruckner Blvd
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Bicycle accidents injuries deaths NYC February 2016Bicycle accidents in New York have been on the rise in recent years and so have the number of people injured or killed in these accidents. Commuting by bike has become quite popular among New Yorkers but it remains quite dangerous mostly because car drivers are driving negligently.

Despite new Vision Zero safety measures such as street re-design and the addition of miles of protected bike lanes the biggest danger bicyclists are facing in the city are negligent car drivers. To raise awareness about the danger that commuters are  facing while using their bicycle to go to work, Jake Dobkin from the Gothamist has asked several colleagues who use their bikes for their daily commute to film their ride.

Jack Dobkin commutes daily between Park Slop and Dumbo in Brooklyn and he is using his bicycle to go to work as well. In Episode One of this series, Jack shows his own daily bicycle ride to the office. Jack says that he’d rather ride one more mile on each commute to avoid using Jay Street which is one of the most dangerous street for bikers in NYC (if you want to understand why check the video clip on our( NYC bicycle accident lawyer page).

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bicycle accident locationA bicyclist was fatally struck by a car in NYC on Friday Morning. The bicycle accident happened at the intersection of Classon Avenue and Lexington Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York. The driver was making a left turn from Classon Avenue onto Lexington Avenue when she hit the 34 year old female bicyclist. According to the NYPD the bicyclist was riding southbound against the traffic. According to StreetBlog, the driver, a 41 year old woman, got out of her car and fainted in the street after she saw the victim. The bicyclist suffered severe head and body trauma and was transported to the hospital where she later died from her injuries.

The accident happened at the entrance of a 20 mph neighborhood slow zone. Classon Avenue has a history of accidents and in 2012 the avenue was completely redesigned to become a one-lane road with broader parking spaces on each side. No bike lane was included in the design.

Read more in Streetblog

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February showed an increase in pedestrian accidents, bicycle accidents and motorcycle accidents in NYC while bus accidents and truck accidents were lower than the previous years during the same month. Was the usually warm weather a contributing factor or is Vision Zero  not really working?

After two years of decrease, the monthly number of pedestrians injured in NYC crashes in February is back to the level where it was 3 years ago. Last month 980 pedestrians were injured in traffic accidents in the city compared to 735 in February 2015, 820 in February 2014 and 983 in February 2013.  11 pedestrians died in motor vehicle accidents in NYC last month. The same number of people died the previous month and in February 2015. After Zero Vision was launched in 2014, the number of pedestrians killed in the month of February initially decreased from 13 to 8 between February 2013 and February 2014 and went back up above 10 for the last two years.

Even though the trend is still showing a decline of pedestrians injuries since the beginning of 2013, the 3-month moving average is back around 1,000 while for the same period last year it was around 900. A similar observation can be made for the 3-month moving average of pedestrians killed in traffic accidents. While the moving average was below or at the level of the trend line in February 2015 and 2014 it is now back above the level of the trend line in February 2016.

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In New York State, 142 bicyclists and 925 pedestrians died in accidents during the 3-year period of 2011, 2012 and 2013 according to the recently released  Alliance for Biking and Walking 2016 Benchmarking Report. The number of bicyclists and pedestrian fatalities increased compared to the 3-year period of 2008, 2009 and 2010. This doesn’t mean however that the streets and the roads in New York are getting more dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists. A study of the bicyclist fatality rates between 2005 and 2013 shows that the bicyclist fatality rate over the 3-year period of 2005, 2006, 2007 was 13 fatalities per 10K biking commuters compared to 9 on average for the 3-year periods of 2008-2010 and 2011-2013. For New York pedestrians the sames rates were respectively 6, 5 and 5.

Even though these rates indicate that the roads of New York have gotten slightly safer, New York State’s bicyclist fatalities as a percentage of all traffic fatalities is 3% which is the second highest rate of all states in the US behind Florida with 4%. Looking at the pedestrian fatality rate as a percentage of all traffic fatalities, New York has the highest rate of all states in the US with 24%  (click on graph below to see them in a larger size)

bicyclist fatality by state
pedestrian fatality by states
Looking at selected demographics, data shows that in New York State from 2005 to 2013 an average  31% of bicyclists killed in bicycle accidents were Hispanic, 11% were seniors (over age 65) and 15% were youth (under age 16).

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There are usually less personal injuries and deaths related to motor vehicle accidents in New York City during the month of January than during most other months. This January there were 17,798 traffic accidents compared to 15,977 in January 2015, 16,597 in January 2014 and 15,599. Even though motor vehicle accidents decreased from January 2014 to 2015 the number of monthly accidents has been on an increasing trend. It is the first time that the number of traffic accidents is above 17,000 for the month of January.

Traffic Accidents NYC January 2016
Despite an increasing number of traffic accidents the number of injuries and deaths related to theses accidents have decreased. This is hopefully related to the introduction of various initiatives to make the streets safer launched under the NYC Vision Zero project. As motorists are driving slower and in a safer way, accidents still happen but less road users are injured or die.

3,624 people were injured in a traffic crash in New York this past January.  This is more than in January 2015 (2,449) but less than in January 2014 (3,899) and in January 2013 (3,993).  Globally over the last 3 years the monthly number of people injured in NYC auto accidents has been decreasing. However during the last few months, the number of injuries have been picking up again. For example, In December 2015 there were 4,519 people injured in auto accidents in NYC compared to 4,117 in December 2014 and 4,277 in December 2013. It was the first time that the number of injuries related to traffic accidents in NYC was above the trend line in December.

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The NYPD are actively looking for five negligent hit and run drivers who killed a bicyclist as well as two pedestrians and injured two other pedestrians.

The first accident took place Sunday morning in the Bronx around 1:30 am. 63 year old Jose Contreras was attempting to cross Webster Avenue at the intersection of 175th street when he was struck by a grey SUV. The driver never stopped. The victim who had just attended his sister’s birthday at a nearby catering hall was found by his son. He suffered severe trauma and was rushed to the hospital. He didn’t survive. The police are looking for a 2001-2006 gray suburban Cadillac Escalade. More information about the accident can be found on the ABC7NY website.

The second accident occurred less than an hour later in Queens, NYC.  A 22 year old woman was crossing Guy R. Brewer Boulevard at 118th Road in South Jamaica when she was hit by a silver minivan. The driver never stopped. The police found the young pedestrian unconscious on the ground. She was taken to the hospital where she was diagnosed with critical head trauma.

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Hudson and LaighA bicyclist was critically injured after he collided with a truck in New York last Thursday. The accident happened at the intersection of Hudson Street and Laight Street in Tribeca around 6:40 pm. The 50 year old bike-rider was pedaling North on Hudson Street when he collided with a crane truck driving West on Laight Street. The crane truck is owned by the company “Service Sign Erectors”. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident. According to the NY Daily News the bicyclist ran the red light. The accident is being investigated by the NYPD Collision Investigation Squad.

Picture of the intersection: Google Map

 

 

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269,140 people were injured in NYC auto accidents last year compared to 256,005 in 2014. This represents an increase of almost 5% in one year. The number of crash injuries first decreased between 2013 and 2014 before significantly increasing in 2015.  By categories motorist injuries and cyclist injuries added to the increase while pedestrian injuries and passengers injuries both declined.

While injuries were on the rise, the yearly number of deaths related to motor vehicle accidents gradually declined. From 286 in 2013, it went down more than 12 % to 250 in 2014  and more than 6% to 235 in 2015. By categories, motorists deaths, pedestrians deaths and bicyclists deaths all declined while passengers deaths increased.

Click on graphs to increase to increase size

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A truck fatally  struck a bicyclist in Brooklyn, NYC. The truck accident happened yesterday at 5 pm in Sheepshead Bay. 54 year old Reng Can Ma was riding his bicycle westbound on Avenue U near Ninth Street.  A truck driver who was riding in the same direction passed him to closely and hit him. The truck driver didn’t stop. Witnesses believe his truck was so big that he may have not realized that he hit the bicyclist. The police are still looking for him. They have released a surveillance video showing the truck passing the cyclist seconds before the accident. The truck was a large Ryder truck with Indiana license plates. Several people who witnessed the accident ran over to the victim and tried to help him but there was little they could do. The man was lying in the middle of the street and wasn’t moving. According to a witness he was bleeding from the head and he was confused. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Read more and see video on ABC7 NY.

Avenue U is Brooklyn’s second Chinatown. It’s a neighborhood that has been developing fast recently. More and more Chinese food markets, bakeries nail salons and electronic stores are opening between Coney Island Ave and Ocean Ave. The traffic has increased as well and numerous complaints have been reported on the Vision Zero map by concerned residents. The Vision Zero map that was used to define the City’s Vision Zero borough safety action plans shows that Sheepshead Bay residents were worried about the safety of Avenue U. Most of the complaints are related to double parking. Residents reported that there were constantly cars double parked on both side of the Avenue.  Jay walking was also reported on several spots. Additionally complaints of running red lights, failure to yield to pedestrians and illegal U-turns were also reported by some residents.

Avenue U

 

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