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 Tagged with car accident nyc

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children car accident prevention programCar accidents are the number one cause of death for young children in New York and in the US. According to a recent study, the likelihood of children getting injured or killed by cars in New York City is much higher in school areas than in other areas of the city. Statistics show that there are 57% more auto accidents and 25% more injuries per mile in streets near schools than in other streets in the city.

Not only to reduce these types of accidents but also to provide children with safe outdoor spaces for activities, less polluted air and a safer area for arrival and dismissal, schools can apply with the DOT to get a street adjacent to the school closed to traffic during school days. However, so far the program has not been really popular with schools. Streets safety advocate say that the difficult application process is the main cause of this low popularity.

Free webinar to launch the new School Street Toolkit

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The intersection where Fruchter was struck by the car

Norman Fruchter died from his injuries after being struck by a car near his home earlier this month. Street safety activists as well as grieving family members and friends gathered yesterday night in Bay Ridge’s Owls Head Park to honor the life of  the legendary education reformer and civil right activist. The vigil was also attended by Senator Andrew Gounardes, Comptroller Brad Lander and Council Member Justin Brannan.

The driver who killed Fruchter was backing up the wrong way

Norman Fruchter died on January 4th after two weeks of pain and suffering. The accident occurred on December 22nd. Fruchter was crossing 68th Street from Owls Head Park to get to Bliss Terrace where he lives, when he was struck by a careless driver who was speeding in reverse the wrong way on 68th street. The driver backed up over him and then allowed the car to roll forward, striking the pedestrian again.

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location of the fatal pedestrian accident in ManhattanA 20 year old pedestrian died after she was struck by a racing hit and run  driver sending her barreling toward a MTA Bus that also struck her. The accident occurred last Thursday around 6:30 pm at the intersection of Third Avenue and 96th Street (see Google Map picture on the left). A witness who was working near by said the impact was so loud that she could heard it. The bus driver stayed at the scene of the accident but the driver of the car that hit her, a black sedan, never stopped. The police are still looking for the driver. The victim was rushed to the hospital but the injuries were so bad that she could not be saved. (read more in the NY Daily News)

Two more pedestrians killed earlier during the week

A senior pedestrian was killed as she was crossing the street in Lower Manhattan, last Monday morning. The accident occurred around 9:30 am. An 83 year old woman was crossing Lafayette Street when the driver of a pick up truck who was making a left from White Street onto Lafayette struck her. The 35 year old driver remained at the scene of the accident and so far has not been charged. A certified nurse assistant who happened to drive by the scene of the accident told the NY Daily news that the victim was too injured for emergency care. Other witnesses mentioned blood everywhere on the sidewalk.  Paramedics still rushed the victim to the hospital but she could not be saved.

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accident scene3 people died in 3  separate traffic accidents in New York City on Tuesday.

The first accident occurred early morning in Queens. Around 6:00 am, a pedestrian was fatally struck by a car driver on 84th St near 153rd Ave in Howard Beach. The pedestrian who was found lying unconscious on the ground by EMS was identified as 53 year old Cristina Ana Acosta. She was rushed to the hospital but did not survive. The victim was killed a block away from her home.

The 45 year old driver of the Nissan Rogue who struck her remained at the scene of the accident and was not charged. A picture of the car that struck her in the NY Post shows that the car that struck her had plates reading “JOVILOCO”. It appears that the car driver is a repeated speeding offender and has accumulated  almost 30 school zone camera violations in 3 years according to howsmydriving. 

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location of the deadly crash on the Cross Bronx expresswayA car driver died in a fiery NYC crash that occurred in the Mount Even section of the Cross Bronx Expressway, underneath University Avenue, around 12:30 am on Monday night.

According to media, 49 year old Shelly Vilsaint from Bayonne, New Jersey, was driving her 2019 Range Rover west bound of the Cross Bronx Expressway in the middle lane when she rear-ended a tractor trailer contracted by the U.S. Postal Service.  Both drivers got out of their vehicles to talk.

The accident was a minor fender-bender for which usually the NYPD does not respond anymore but the woman insisted on waiting for the police. The driver of the truck suggested they pull over but she refused. Both got back in their vehicles and shortly after another tractor trailer rear-ended the Range Rover. The car was crushed between the two trucks and Shelly Vilsaint died at the scene of the accident.

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location of the fatal pedestrian accident in the RockawaysA 64 year old pedestrian was fatally struck by a car as he was crossing Seagirt Boulevard near Beach 31st Street in Far Rockaways, Queens, NYC, on Saturday  around 6:50 pm

Seagirt Boulevard is notoriously dangerous  and multiple crashes occurred on the 6-lane Boulevard in the past. Since 2019 one motorist died and 90 people were injured in crashes – including 19 pedestrians and 7 cyclists – on Seagirt Boulevard between Beach 9th Street and Rockaway Parkway. Speeding is so common that in 2019, one of the speed cameras installed on Seagirt Boulevard had the highest yearly amount of tickets recorded of all the speed cameras of New York City. Despite  this sad record it took the DOT until last September to announce that Seagirt Boulevard will finally be subjected to a road diet. (Read more about the accident in the NY Daily News)

Another pedestrian, father of 12 children, was killed by a hit and run driver in Manhattan on Sunday morning around 5:45 am

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The dangerous NYC intersection where a pedestrian was killedA pedestrian was killed in a car accident on a dangerous street of New York City.  The accident occurred on Monday afternoon around 3Pm. 73 year old Yingqui Liu was crossing South Avenue  when he was struck by the driver of a van making a left turn from Forest Avenue in Staten Island.

According to Transportation Alternatives, while 3 people died in crashes on Forest Avenue since 2019, no major safety improvements have been made on Forest Avenue west of Morningstar Road  since Vision Zero started.

So far this year 223 people died in crashes in New York City, including 99 pedestrians. Among the victims 42 of them were 65 and older.

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70 people died in traffic accidents in New York City during the third quarter of 2022. Among the victims were 26 pedestrians, 4 cyclists, 15 motor vehicle passengers and 25 motor vehicle operators. Pedestrians and motor vehicle operators accounted for most of the deaths while passengers fatalities reached a record high.

Since Vision Zero started in 2014, auto accident fatalities gradually declined from 82 during the third quarter of 2013 to a record low of 56 fatalities during the third quarter of 2019. However, everything changed during the Covid19 crisis of 2020 when NYC streets were almost empty and speeding caused traffic fatalities to peak again and reach 77 during the third quarter of 2020. Since then, the number of fatalities during Q3 never went back below 70.

Auto accident fatalities NYC Q3 2022

While fatalities remained higher than usual, car accident injuries stayed lower than usual

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Vision Zero Cities 2022Transportation Alternatives “Vision Zero Cities” conference started yesterday and continues until Friday at the end of the day.  Participants can still register for selected segments.

The conference was held online yesterday with an in-person Vision Zero Cities 2022 Opening Reception hosted at Liberty Park at World Trade Center last night.

Today, sessions will be hosted in person at the Center for Architecture at 536 Laguardia Place in Manhattan.

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accident sceneReckless driving was a factor in multiple deadly crashes in New York City that occurred at the end of last week.

  • The first accident occurred Friday early morning, around 2:30 am when a 23 year old driver identified as Ravinder Singh who was drunk behind the wheel killed his 29 year old passenger Harjot Singh,  in a wrong way crash on the Brooklyn-Queens-Expressway. The driver is now facing several charges including criminally negligent homicide and drunk driving. (read more in the NY Daily News)
  • A few hours later. around 6:30 am  another deadly wrong way accident occurred, involving a car and an ambulance that was transporting a victim that was previously hit by another car (see previous blog). The victim, a mother of two young children, died and several EMS members were injured and hospitalized.