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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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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Mamoukakis was a bicyclist fatally struck by a bus in NYC A few days after Citi Bike rider Dan Hanegby was fatally struck by a bus, another cyclist died after being hit by a charter bus just a few blocks away. 80 year old Michael Mamoukakis was riding his bicycle on 7th Ave near 29th Street when he was hit by a charter bus who was making a right turn on 29th Street. The accident occurred Saturday around 1:30 pm.  The bus driver stayed at the scene of the accident. The bus driver told the Post that she didn’t see the bicyclist. She heard a a dull heavy sound and immediately after people in the street started to scream to stop the bus, which she did. The bus is registered to Buckeye Limousine and Charters Corporation of Ohio. Witnesses said they saw the bus driving over the man. He screamed and then became unconscious. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. New York City Council Member Corey Johnson expressed his anger in a statement and asked for an emergency meeting of the NYC DOT, the NYPD, Members of the government, the Community Board 4 and representatives of the charter buses operating in Chelsea.

Read more in the New York Times,
Picture: Facebook

 

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Dan Hanegby died in a NYC bicycle accicdentA bicyclists died after colliding with a bus in New York Monday morning. 36 year old Dan Hanegby, a financial executive at Credit Suisse was riding a Citi Bike on West 26th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. He was riding between the parked cars and a charter bus when the collision occurred. The man fell to the ground and was run over by the rear wheels of the bus.

The accident happened around 8:15 am on Monday. Hanegby was wearing a suit and was most probably on his way to work. The young man was transported to the hospital in critical condition. He died shortly after his arrival to the hospital.  The bus driver stayed at the scene of the accident. He wasn’t charged.

Hanegby grew up in Israel and served in the Israel Defense force. He was also an avid tennis player according to his social media profile.

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A woman suffered critical personal injury after being hit by a MTA bus in New York City. The accident occurred around 9 pm last Monday. 61 year old Aurora Beauchamp was crossing E. Houston Street at Avenue D in the crosswalk  and at the green light when the bus struck her. She was transported to the hospital. Her sternum, ribs hip and pelvis were broken and she suffered internal bleeding. The bus driver was also transported to the hospital for trauma. He was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian.

It is not the first time that a pedestrian has been hit by an MTA bus at this location.  Just a few months ago, in October 2016, 73 year old Anna Colon was fatally hit by a MTA bus that was turning left from Avenue D onto East Houston.

While looking at the Twitter picture below, one can see that Monday’s accident occurred exactly in the same way: the bus was making a left turn onto East Houston as well.

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New York Personal Injury lawyer Anthony Gair photo__2573607_christopher_donadioOur NY personal injury law firm is proud to announce that our attorneys Anthony H. Gair and Christopher J. Donadio obtained a $1.4 million settlement in a bus accident that occurred in Manhattan.

The case involved a bus collision that occurred on May 15, 2015 on the West Side Highway (11th Avenue). On that date, the plaintiff, who was on a bicycle attempting to cross the roadway, was struck by a large tour bus. At the time of the collision, the plaintiff was riding within the bicycle crossing lane and had the right of way per the light. Following the collision, a police officer arrived on the scene and spoke to a number of witnesses. Based on the witnesses, the police officer determined that the tour bus had traveled through a red light and struck the plaintiff.

An action was brought against the tour bus company that owned and operated the bus, as well as against the bus driver. The defendants initially denied that they were responsible for the collision, and argued that even if they were, the plaintiff was also responsible for failing to see the bus before attempting to cross the roadway.

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NYC transit servicesSubway accidents and bus accidents in NYC are difficult to avoid.  As millions of people are using the subways and buses in NYC every year, accidents happen. People are getting hurt, sometimes badly. Sometimes they die. Some accidents are caused by the negligence of the MTA New York City Transit. Over the last 5 years, the agency settled or adjudicated 4,592 negligence cases for a total of $431 million.  88 cases were settled for more than $1 million. A case was settled last year for $9 million. The victim was 19 year old Ali Muir, a pre-med student. Muir tripped in a hole on a subway platform. He fell on the tracks and was hit by a subway.Both of Muir’s  legs were amputated from the knees.  It took 6 years for his case to settle. Many NYC subway platforms have unfixed hazards that can cause dangerous slip and falls.

Any personal injury lawyer in the city knows that NYC transit cases are not easy cases. 49 tort attorneys are working full time for the agency, aggressively fighting every case. The agency is taking the time it needs to fight cases  because it only has to pay a 3% post judgment interest rate. Other agencies and litigants have to pay a   9% post  judgment interest rate on the money awarded at trial to victims. The 3% interest rate is an incentive for the NYC transit to take the time it needs post judgment to take lengthy Appeals of adverse judgments in cases.

Cases take so long to be settled that sometimes victims have to borrow money to pay for their medical bills or for their living. This  happened to 36 year old Pilar Ortiz. She suffered serious leg injuries after being struck by a MTA Bus while riding her bicycle. Ortiz had to undergo 20- surgeries to save her legs.  She was represented by two of our attorneys: Ben Rubinowitz and Peter Saghir. Rubinowitz and Saghir successfully fought the NYC transit agency who was blaming the victim for the accident. The case went to trial. Rubinowitz and Saghir were able to prove to the jury that MTA investigators were lying. Ortiz won the case after a 6 year battle.

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18 people suffered personal injury in a bus accident in New York. Yesterday afternoon a collision between 3 vehicles including a bus occurred on the FDR near the Brooklyn Bridge. According to the NY Daily News, the bus was transporting several disabled people. The 18 people injured in the crash were dispatched to various hospitals.

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Channel Drive and Beach 67 streetA 5 year old boy suffered personal injury after the car he was riding rear ended an  MTA Bus in New York City. The accident occurred last Thursday afternoon in Queens. The car slammed into a MTA bus that was parked at a stop on Beach Channel Drive near Beach 67 Street.  The impact projected the boy out of his seat. He suffered critical head and neck injury. He was rushed to the hospital. Another passenger in the car was also transported to the hospital in serious condition according to the NY Daily News 

Picture: the intersection of Beach Channel Drive and Beach 67 Street couertesy of Google Map

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Go New York Tours Bus13 people were injured in a bus accident in New York this afternoon. The bus was a double decker operated by Go New York Tours. The bus was heading South on Fifth Ave near 63rd Street when it crashed into a tree. The bus driver told the police that he swerved to avoid a cab who cut  in front of him. However a witness who was crossing the street at the time of the accident told the NY Daily News that it wasn’t true. He explained that the bus was driving too fast and that he jumped the curb to avoid a city bus that had stopped in front of him to pick up passengers. According to the same witness, the driver never hit the brakes and went straight into the tree. The impact was so violent that  it sounded like an explosion.  Among the injured, a couple of tourists in their 70’s suffered serious head injuries.  11 other people were also injured and transported by ambulance to the hospital.

Go New York Tour is a company operating 22 “hop and off”double deckers buses with 40 drivers. The company has a terrible reputation in New York City. It was investigated by the Consumer Affairs department in 2014 for ripping off tourists, having ill-informed guides and bus drivers as well as employees behaving in an extremely rude and profane manner.

The Consumer Affairs department conducted multiple inspections of the Bus Tour operator which according to ABC News has been slapped with 18 violations including one driver without a commercial driver’s license. 3 of the 22 buses failed to pass federal inspection and one of the buses was also involved in an accident with a car last March in Queens. It is a shame that the city of New York still allow this company to operate.

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fdny14 people suffered personal injury after a fire truck struck a MTA bus in NYC.  The accident occurred Sunday in Astoria, Queens, NYC at the corner of Ditmars Blvd and 21st Street. A little bit after noon the fire truck  was heading down Ditmars Boulevard to respond to a blaze nearby. Sirens and emergency lights were on.  According to the NY Daily News, the truck passed a red light and  collided with the bus that had the green light and was crossing on 21st St.  Witnesses  said the crash sounded like a bomb.  The impact was so strong that the bus careened into two other parked cars and jumped the curb  before finally stopping two steps away from people sitting at an outdoor cafe. 12 bus passengers were injured and transported to the hospital.  Two firefighters were injured as well and also transported to the hospital.

Later on during the day  another fire truck collided with a car two blocks away.  One person suffered minor injury. The fire truck  also had emergency lights on when the accident happened.

Last year there were 382 fire truck accidents in NYC.