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 Pedestrian 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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Truck Smart Guide NYCWhile trucks remain essential in new York City, they pose a serious risk to other road users in particular to pedestrians and cyclists.  According to statistics, 67% of  truck accidents involving a cyclist or a pedestrian result in serious injury or death.

The largest the truck, the most dangerous it is

Large blind angles can hide pedestrians and cyclists when they stand in front or on the side of a truck. Additionnally the heaviest a truck is, the longest it will take for the truck to stop.

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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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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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The New York block where a cyclist and two pedestrians were struckA reckless driver who tried to flee the police in Brooklyn, NYC, struck a bicyclist and two pedestrians, continued driving, struck three other pedestrians, crashed into a vehicle and then into a wall before running away with a passenger. One suspect is in custody while the other is still at large.

According to the police, two officers patrolling in Bedford-Stuyvesant saw a car with mismatched plates which is usually an indication that the car might have been stolen. They also noticed that the two people inside the car were smoking marijuana.   As they got out of the police car to talk to the driver after turning on their lights and pulling the car over, the driver of the vehicle took off.

As he was fleeing from the police, the reckless driver  first struck a cyclist and two pedestrians at the intersection of Macon Street and Ralph Avenue. He did not stop and continued speeding on Ralph Avenue. As he reached Hasley Street, the driver hit a grandmother and her grandson who were crossing the street. He then crashed into another car and careened into the wall of building. The driver and the passenger then got out of the car and ran away.

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11 pedestrians, 3 cyclists, 4 passengers and 8 motor vehicle operators died in crashes in New York City last May compared to respectively 6,2,0 and 2 in April and 15, 1, 3 and 11 in May 2021. This is the first time that the number of monthly fatalities is above 25 since October 21.

After a drop during the Covid19 crisis in 2020, monthly traffic accident fatalities have been above 25, 8 times during the last 2 years, Before the Covid19 crisis, since Vision Zero started in 2014, fatalities only went above 25 5 times over a period of 6 years. These numbers are very preoccupying.  At the very beginning of May, The Adams administration launched a $4 million campaign urging  motorists to slow down but so far this campaign doesn’t seem to have much effects on car accident fatalities.

New York motor vehicle accident fatalities May 2022
Car accident deaths have been exploding over the last two years in New York City. Last May, as mentioned above, 26 people died in traffic accidents compared to 10 a month earlier and 30 in May 2021. Since May 2015 when they reached 28, monthly car accidents deaths had remained below 20 during the months of April and May. While the trendline since Vison Zero started remains on the decline, the last 2 years have been more deadly than before.

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Senior pedestrian zonesIn New York City,  45% of the pedestrians who die in a car accident are seniors while they make up only 15% of the total population of the city.

10 years ago senior pedestrian fatalities represented 33% of all pedestrian fatalities, but their numbers are gradually growing and as a result senior pedestrian fatalities are representing a higher percentage of  all pedestrian fatalities than they used to.

The DOT wants to address this problem and  yesterday, DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez visited a senior center in Washington Heights to announced the release of an extensive study about senior pedestrian fatalities  and a plan to prevent them.

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The intersection where Lin was fatally struckAnother pedestrian died in a crash in New York City on Saturday after the driver of a van failed to yield to her

62 year old Tian-Rong Lin was crossing Seward Avenue in the Bronx when a van making a left turn from Olmstead Avenue struck her. The accident occurred on Saturday morning around 11:00 am. The driver, 54 year old Ramon Cedeno-Ortiz, stayed at the scene of the accident. He was charged with failure to exercise due care and failure to yield to a pedestrian.

Drivers rarely charged when they kill a pedestrian

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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.