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 Truck Accidents

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location of the truck accidentSeveral people were injured in a pickup truck accident in New York City last week . The crash occurred in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NYC.  The driver of a Ford pick up truck crashed into the barriers of  an outdoor dining areas erected on Fifth Avenue near 41st Street by L’Wren restaurant (see Google map Picture on the left). “Open Restaurants”, the city’s initiative to expand dining area into the street to reduce the risk of covid-19 propagation is allowing restaurants to create outdoors dining area on parking spaces. As a result cars are driving right on the side of people having food and drinks. Protective barriers are mandatory, however in the case of the accident that occurred at L’Wren restaurant, the 5000-pound pick up truck knocked them down onto the floor.  3 patrons were injured and taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries. A mother just had the time to scoop her two kids away to prevent them from being injured. The scene was really scary according to witnesses and it could have been much worse. The driver of the pickup truck stayed at the scene of the accident. The police found that he was unlicensed and he was issued a summon for driving without a license and let go. Read more in Street Blog.

This is the second time that a vehicle plows into the outdoor area of a restaurant in New York City

On July 13, a driver made a mistake and press on the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal and crashed into the outdoor seating of 12 Corazones Restaurant and bar on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. A waitress and 4 customers were injured and hospitalized after the car jumped the sidewalk and crashed into the restaurant at full speed destroying not only the seating area but also the indoor structure of the establishment. (see video here).

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29 people including 4 cyclists and 9 pedestrians died in crashes in New York City last June. While truck and bus accidents remain lower than usual, reckless car driving and speeding continue to be a cause of many injuries and deaths.

After dipping to a record low of 5 deaths during the Covid-19 lock-down, traffic fatalities peaked to 29 in June. Since Vision Zero started in 2014, this is a record high number of fatalities that was only reached once previously in June 2016. Injuries were on the rise too in June compared to the previous months of May and April but not as dramatically as the fatalities.  The total number of accidents increased as well. One of the main reasons why the total number of accidents dipped so dramatically is because since last March the NYPD doesn’t dispatch officers anymore at the scene of minor accidents. As a result the big drop observed since March is not only related to the Covid-19 crisis but also to the the fact there are no more NYPD reports for minor accidents.

Auto Accident NYC Injuries Deaths June 2020
New York traffic accident fatalities were on the rise for all categories of road users. 11 motorists, 5 passengers, 4 cyclists and 9 pedestrians died last June compared to respectively 7, 0, 2 and 2 during the previous month and 6, 3, 3, 8 in June 2019. Many of these fatalities are related to speed and reckless driving. While the city has slowly started to get back to normal, the traffic is not as heavy as it used to be before the coronavirus crisis and many motorists are driving over the speed limit.

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accident sceneA man was killed in a box truck accident in New York City last Tuesday. Hamlet Cruz Gomez was going grocery shopping in his SUV when the driver of a stolen box truck lost control of his vehicle and crashed into the SUV.  The truck driver, Ramon Pera was behind the wheel of the stolen truck and his driving was so reckless that he struck a few other parked cars before crashing into Cruz-Gomez SUV at the intersection of  Metropolitan Ave and Rentar Plaza in Queens. Cruz-Gomez was rushed to the emergency room but he couldn’t be saved.

The 25 year old victim was a radiology technician at Montefiore Medical Center. During the covid-19 pandemic he isolated himself from his pregnant wife. He was able to return home and escort his wife to the delivery room to welcome his new daughter around a month ago. According to his family and friends Cruz-Gomez was a hard working generous man who was ecstatic about the arrival of his baby girl. They are devastated.

After the accident, the reckless truck driver, 37 year old Pera, tried to run away on foot but was arrested shortly after. He was arraigned on charges of reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident, assault, manslaughter and grand larceny.

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truck back up accident locationA charity worker was crushed to death by a truck backing up  yesterday. Morales Cruseno Florentino was delivering milk to a school for a charity with his co-worker. As they arrived at the Bais Yaakov Academy of Queens on Metropolitan Ave near 125th St. in Kew Gardens, Morales stepped out of the truck and went to the back of the truck to direct the truck driver while he backed up to park. As the driver was backing up, Morales got pinned between the truck and another vehicle. Video surveillance of the scene depicts the truck moving back with the back up alarm on and Morales not moving out of the way. Maybe he thought the truck would not back all the way?

When EMS arrived, Morales was still alive but was critically injured. He was transported to the hospital where he later died from his injuries.

Morales and his coworkers had been delivering milk for people in need for the last two months.

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24 cyclists, 116 pedestrians, 17 motor vehicle passengers and 57 drivers were killed in 209,291 auto accidents in New York City in 2019. The total number of accidents recorded last year was significantly lower than the 3 previous years during which it was above 227,000 however traffic fatalities were higher last year than the two previous years.


auto accidents NYC 2019

After reaching a record low at 199 in 2018, crash fatalities in New York increased to 214 last year. Since 2013 traffic fatalities gradually went down every year. This is the first year since Vision Zero was implemented in 2014 that fatalities went back up from one year to the other. While fatalities are globally on a declining trend despite the recent increase last year, the number of people injured in car accidents in New York is on a rising trend. NYC Auto accident injuries  reached a record high last year and were above 6,000 for the first time. They slightly decreased in 2019 but kept around the 6,000 level. The increase in injuries sustained in car crashes is mostly due to a rising number of drivers being injured. One reason might be that because the speed limit was lower in the city, less people are dying in car accidents but more are injured. Distracted driving might be another reason why more drivers are getting injured in auto accidents in New York.

Traffic fatalities and injuries in New York City in 2019
Bicyclists are the only category of  New York road users who continue to experience a rising trend of accidents, injuries and deaths. After cyclists fatalities reached a record low at 9 in 2018, they reached a record high at 24 in 2019.  Last year as bicycle fatalities were surging quickly, Mayor de Blasio announced a new bike safety plan entitled the Green Wave. The plan is:

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trucks-kills-cyclist-tweetA cyclist was killed in a truck accident in NYC last week.

41 year old Pedro Lopez is the first cyclist to die in a traffic accident in New York City in 2020. He was killed by a reckless truck driver who was making an illegal U-turn at high speed on Vandervoort Avenue in Brooklyn. The accident occured on Thursday around 2:40 pm. The cyclist was rear ended by the truck. He was rushed to the hospital where he later died from his injuries.

Despite a video showing the recklessness of the truck driver, the police didn’t charge him

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was-it-worth-itLast year 28 cyclists died in traffic accidents in New York City and more than half of them were killed by trucks  and SUVs. Most of the time the driver was a man.

Last Friday, the DOT announced that it invested 4 million in a new campaign targeting men driving trucks and SUVs. The “Was it Worth it?” campaign depicts images of pedestrian and bicycle accidents with a male driver in shock and the message “Was it worth it?” in various languages. Additional audio campaigns will also be run in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole on several local radio stations during commuting time.

Since Mayor de Blasio launched Vision Zero in 2014, traffic fatalities decreased over the years except for last year. 203 people died in car accidents in 2019. More than half of them were pedestrians. On average over the last few years, men were found to be responsible for 75% of the fatalities with 41% of them driving a truck or a SUV.

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Third-avenueTo reduce pedestrian and cyclist fatalities caused by cars and trucks on two of the busiest and most dangerous avenues in Brooklyn, the NYC DOT announced that the maximum speed limit was lowered from 30 mph to 25 mph. New signs are up and speed cameras have been re-calibrated on Third Ave and Hamilton Avenue in Brooklyn. The DOT decided to take action after 6 people including 3 cyclists and 3 pedestrians died in traffic accidents on Third Avenue last year. Two of them were killed in the same week in December.

The area around Third avenue and Hamilton Avenue has been changing a lot in the past years with more and more residential properties being developed. However there are still a lot of trucks coming in and out of the Gowanus, making the area particularly dangerous.

Half of the 2019 fatalities involved trucks

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private-sanitation-truck-accidentA pedestrian was killed by a hit and run NYC private sanitation truck Thursday morning around 4:00. The accident took place on 86th Street and Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. According to the NY Daily News, 67 year old Deborah Mutell was found by the police lying in the street with her body split in two. She was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Investigators believe that after she was hit by the truck, she fell under the wheel and was dragged several feet until her body fell in pieces from the undercarriage of the truck. Investigators are still searching for the truck. Last week another sanitation truck killed a young boy and critically injured his mom.

A new and upcoming Citywide commercial waste zone system is expected to result in creating a safer environment for workers and the public alike

Sanitation trucks, especially those belonging to private companies are often very dangerous to pedestrians. Private carting companies have a bad reputation. They often operate with a blatant disrespect for the safety of their workers and of the public as well. Currently, around 90 private sanitation companies service customers all around the city. As a consequence, more than 50 individual carting companies may service a single neighborhood every day. This system not only put workers and pedestrians in danger but also pollutes the environment. It will be replace next year  by a new system.  A  Commercial Waste Zone Bill was passed a few months ago and is expected to improve work conditions, reduce pedestrian accidents and decrease pollution.

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accident sceneA 10 year old boy and a 68 year old woman died in two separate truck accidents in New York City last week. Both accidents occurred on the same day.

10 year old boy killed by NYC Sanitation truck

The first accident occurred in Queens last Tuesday around 7:00 am.  10 year old Shreejan Panthee was on his way to school with his mother Mina. Both of them were crossing the 57th Avenue crosswalk near 97th Street in Corona, Queens, when a NYC Sanitation truck made a right turn onto 57th Street from a nearby driveway and struck them. The boy was run over by the rear wheels and the mother was knocked down on the ground.  Both the mother and the child were rushed to the hospital. Shreejan died a few hours later. Her mother Mina was critically injured but survived. A man who witnessed the accident told the media that he screamed at the truck driver: “Slow down, you are going to hit them!”. Mina, her husband Purushottam Panthee and their son Shreejan came from Nepal in 2010. The husband works as a chemist in Long Island and the mother works in a beauty salon in the Bronx. Shreejan was a smart boy who won spelling bee prizes and enjoyed swimming. The Queens Nepali Community was in shock. A vigil was organized at night at the location of the accident. The truck driver wasn’t immediately charged by the police however he was placed on “modified duty,” and stripped of driving responsibilities by the NYC Sanitation Department.