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 Bus Accidents

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17 pedestrians, 4 cyclists, 14 passengers and 22 motorists died in auto accidents in NYC  during the two hottest months of the summer. Truck accidents were close to record highs while bus accidents were slightly lower than usual.

35 people died in car accidents in New York City in July and 22 in August for a total of 57 fatalities compared to respectively 51, 42, 39, 32, 43, 44, 41, 50 and 56 during the months of July and August 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. The number of fatalities was even higher this summer than what it was during the summer of 2013 before Vision Zero started.

The month of July was particularly bad with a record 35 people dying during this month. The only time since 2013 that this number of people were killed in traffic accidents was in September 2020. Since the Covid19 crisis of 2020, traffic accidents fatalities have been much higher than what they were the years before. Among those who died in July were 11 pedestrians, 3 cyclists, 7 motor vehicle passengers and 14 motor vehicle operators. The number of motor vehicle operator deaths in July reached a level never seen since the beginning of Vision Zero except again in September 2020.

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loction-of-the-mta-bus-crash-in-mabnhattanTwo people suffered personal injury after a MTA Bus crashed into a light pole in Midtown Manhattan on Sunday around 7:30 pm. The accident occurred at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and East 58th Street. The driver of the M103 bus made a too sharp turn and hit a light pole that then crashed into the street.  A 90 year old passenger suffered head injury and is in stable condition at the hospital. The driver also suffered injury and was hospitalized to be evaluated.

Earlier this month another MTA Bus accident in the Bronx caused 13 people to be injured. According to MTA officials, the driver of the bus suffered a medical condition and crashed into a subway pillar on Boston Road, near the intersection of East Tremont Avenue. According to MTA, the driver had been with them since 2008. She had passed her biannual physical exam and had been declared fit to drive. She suffered critical injury during the accident and was found at the scene of the accident unconscious and unresponsive.

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Location of the car, MTA Bus and truck accident7 people were injured in a multi-vehicle collision involving a car, a MTA bus and a truck in New York City during Tuesday rush hour. The accident took place on Ralph Avenue near 66th Street in Old Mill Basin, Brooklyn, NYC around 5:40 pm. The driver of a Toyota Camry was trying to pass a MTA bus on the left lane when he side swiped the bus and careened across the street and into a work truck.

The driver of the car was given CPR by bystanders before being rushed to the hospital

A witness who lived nearby told the NY Daily News that the sound of the impact felt like a gun shot. He ran out of his house and saw the Toyota Camry smoking with the driver inside. Several other witnesses ran to the car and got the driver out of the car. They lied him on the ground and gave him CPR.  6 other people were injured including the driver of the work truck who suffered whiplash according to his brother who was also present at the scene of the accident with the wife’s driver. All crash victims were transported to the hospital to be treated.

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Location of the deadly MTA Bus AccidentA pedestrian was fatally struck by a MTA Bus in Staten Island, NYC, last Friday early morning and the bus driver never stopped.

69 year old Patrick Varriale, a New Springville resident and the the electronic media services division director for the American Federation of Musicians of US and Canada, an instrumental musicians union, was crossing the intersection of Forrest Hill Road and Platinum Avenue in Staten Island around 4:40 AM on Friday when he was struck by a MTA bus driver who never stopped and left the victim dying in the street.

The intersection is a block away from the MTA Yukon Bus Depot and after investigation, the police found out that the bus driver who hit the victim was a 52 year old man who was travelling eastbound on Forest Hill Road. He hit the victim as he was making a left turn onto Platinum Avenue. The man was driving the SIM 10 route bus.

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10 pedestrians, 8 passengers and 6 drivers died in crashes in New York City in February. No cyclists fatalities were reported to the NYPD during this month. 266 bus accidents, 577 truck accidents and 56 motorcycle accidents were reported among the total 7,261 motor vehicle collisions recorded in February.

Traffic accident fatalities in New York City reached a record high for the month of February with 24 people dying in traffic accidents compared to respectively 10, 17, 12, 16, 13, 18, 15, 12 and 20 in February 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.  Traffic accident fatalities in the city last February were even higher than what they were in February 2013 before Vision Zero started.  The  trendline which had been steadily declining during Vision Zero is now almost flat. Since last February ,monthly car accident fatalities have been at the level of the trendline or above which is quite unusual and quite worrisome.

Car accident fatalities February 22
The high number of car accident fatalities in New York City last February is mostly due to a record high number of car passengers fatalities (see category in red in the graph below, click on it for full size). 8 motor vehicle passengers died in crashes last February compared to 5 in January 2020 and 2 in February 2021. Since Vision Zero started and even a year before, the highest total monthly passengers fatalities were 6 in April 2014 and 6 in July 2015.

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location of the MTA and scooter accidetn in Ridgewood Queens NYCA 15 year old boy riding a scooter in Queens NYC was critically injured in an accident with a MTA BUS. So far the police are still investigating the accident and did not provide any information as how the collision occurred. The NYPD only said that the boy was riding the electric scooter near the intersection of Seneca and Gates Aves. in Ridgewood (see picture) when he was struck by the bus. He suffered severe body trauma and was rushed to the hospital.  (read more in the NY Daily News)

Motorcyclist injured in hit and run has to investigate his own accident

Another motorcyclist was injured last week-end after he was struck  by a hit and run driver who pulled out of a parking space and struck him. A surveillance video shows 35 year old Franck Guzman riding his motorcycle south bound on Boston Road when a driver  pulling out of a parking area and crossing though traffic hit him. Guzman went flying in the air while the driver sped away and disappeared. Guzman could not stand up and was transported to the hospital to be treated. The police told him they would come to see him but never showed up.

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657 pedestrians, 161 cyclists, 870 passengers and 1,429 motorists were injured in motor vehicle accidents in New York City last January. 19 other road users died in crashes the same month, including 11 pedestrians, 5 passengers and 3 motorists. This is the highest number of fatalities for a month of January since January 2019 and the highest it ever got during a month and more than half of them were motorists. Last year during the same month, 13 people were killed in traffic accidents in the city.

auto accident fatalities NYC January 22
auto accident deaths by category of road users New York January 22
The total number of  people injured in motor vehicle accidents in January 2022 in the city was a little higher than in January 2021 when it reached 3,028 however this number remained lower than numbers recorded during the months of January before the pandemic.  The graph below illustrates well the seasonality of car accident injuries with the month of January being usually a month during which there are less injuries reported than during the summer months. The graph also shows a big drop during the lockdown.

Motorists and passengers are the two categories of road users that usually sustained the most injuries of all auto accidents reported in the city.

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location of the deadly school bus accidentA 15 year old girl was fatally struck by a yellow school bus driver in Brooklyn, NYC.  The accident occurred yesterday morning around 7:55 am. Antonia Zatulovska was on her way to school. She was in the crosswalk at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Avenue P when a long yellow school bus with children on board made a turn off Avenue P onto Bedford Avenue and rolled over her. Surveillance video caught the shocking accident.

After he rolled over the victim, the driver of the bus briefly stopped and then sped away. Police tracked him down and found him and the bus on Neptune Avenue near West 6th Street in Coney Island.

Bus driver not charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident so far

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Bronx intersection where the MTA bus accident occurredA pedestrian crossing the street in the Bronx was fatally struck by a MTA bus last night around 8:30 pm. The bus driver was making a left turn at the intersection of Johnson Avenue and Kappock Street in New York City, when he struck a 68 year old woman whose identity has not been revealed by the police.

The victim was run over by the rear wheels of the bus and died at the scene of the accident.

The tragedy occurred in a residential area of Spuyten Duyvil where bus drivers should expect pedestrians and drive cautiously. According to officials, the driver has been withheld from further service and will have to take a fitness for duty test. (Read more in the NY Daily News

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location of the bee-line bus accident in the Bron NY11 people were injured including one critically after an articulated bus of the Bee-line system from Westchester county crashed into a pillar of the elevated subway line on Jerome Avenue near the intersection of East 213th Street in the Bronx, NYC. The bus was serving the 4 line and transporting passengers between Yonkers and Bedford Park in the Bronx. A car that previously collided with another one slammed into the bus pushing it into the pillar.

One 69 year old man in critical condition

Some of the bus accident victims were taken to the hospital by EMS, others were treated at the scene.  Among them, was the driver of the bus who was put on a stretcher and rushed to the hospital. The bus drivers told witnesses that 3 people were more injured than he was. A 69 year old man who suffered critical traumatic brain injury is in critical condition. He also said he was a veteran driver who was planning to retire next year and never had an accident in his entire career as a bus driver.