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Articles Tagged with pedestrian accident nyc

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A terrifying video surveillance footage showing a speeding car striking a young pedestrian in the crosswalk in New York City was released by the police in the hope of finding the car driver.

The video shows a Dodge Challenger racing down 47th Street, a residential street in Borough Park, and hitting 14 year old Xin Yi Wang at full speed sending her flying across Ninth Ave. The pedestrian who was in the crosswalk and had the right of way at the time of the accident was almost hit by another vehicle after she landed on Ninth Avenue . The driver of the car, a white woman in her 30/40ies, stopped the car and stepped out of it to check on the victim. She asked her if she could bring her back home and the victim refused. Then a witness called 911 and the driver left the scene of the accident.

Amazingly Xin Yi Wang survived the crash and only suffered bruises to her torso and legs as well as a big bump on her head.

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accident sceneTwo more pedestrians died in traffic accidents in NYC at the end of last week. One was hit by a bus and the other one by two cars. A total of 51 pedestrians and cyclists died in traffic accidents since the beginning of the year, an increase of 30% compared to the same period of 2018.

Struck by a reckless driver

On Friday night a pedestrian was killed in Queens. The man whose identity wasn’t revealed, was crossing Sunrise Highway in the crosswalk when he was hit by 62 year old Renford Tait.  The pedestrian fell to the ground and was struck by another car. Both drivers stayed at the scene of the accident. The first driver who failed to yield to the pedestrian while making a turn from Brookville Boulevard onto Sunrise Highway was also unlicensed. He was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care. The other driver wasn’t charged. The intersection is notoriously dangerous and known for speeding. Last year 126 crashes resulting in 58 people getting injured occurred at the intersection. Read more in Streetblog

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Location of the hit and run truck accidentA pedestrian was fatally struck by a truck in New York City on Wednesday morning and the driver fled the scene of the accident. The accident occurred a little bit before 5:00 am at the dangerous intersection of Flatbush Ave and Nostrand Ave in Brooklyn.
67 year old Linda Douglas was in the crosswalk on Flatbush Ave when a flatbed tractor trailer that was traveling northbound on Flatbush hit her. The truck driver never stooped leaving the victim dying in the street. Lina was a nursing assistant in Harlem and she was commuting to work when the accident occurred. She was living with her husband John Douglas in East Brooklyn.  Originally from Aruba, the couple had moved to the US in 1970. Linda was a few weeks away from retirement. Her husband was devastated. “Linda was the most beautiful, giving, loving person I’ve ever met in this world,” Douglas said to the Gothamist.
During the day, the police released the footage of a surveillance camera showing the truck hoping that someone could provide information. They finally located the driver on Wednesday night. His identity wasn’t released. The police said they questioned the man and released him a few hours later without charging him after he told the police he didn’t know that he hit the victim. John Douglas whom the police called around midnight to announce that they found the driver, couldn’t believe that the driver was able to walk away that easily after he had killed his wife.
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accident sceneThe driver who fatally struck an 85 year old woman in Brooklyn, NYC, last Wednesday had previously received 10 tickets for speeding in a school zone and two for running red lights. The police haven’t filed any charges against the driver. The daughter is furious and wants the driver charged. She believes that a bill such as the “Reckless Driver Accountability Act” proposed by Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander would help stop reckless driving in New York and could have prevented the death of her mother. The bill was proposed last year by Councilman Brad Lander after a reckless driver killed Abigail Blumenstein and Joshua Lew in Park Slope. Stella Clinton was backed over by the reckless driver as she was walking home from her Brooklyn parish church after an Ash Wednesday service. The accident occurred on Avenue S near Brown Street, in Marine Park, Brooklyn.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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19 people died in 167,686 NYC motor vehicle accidents in January 2019 . More than half of the fatalities were pedestrians. 3 of the fatalities were cyclists, 3 were passengers and 3 others died behind the wheel. This number compared to 20 fatalities in December and respectively 11, 18, 17, 13, 21 and 28 in January 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.  This is the highest amount of traffic deaths for a month of January in 5 years. (click on graphs for full size view)

Car accident deaths NYC January 2019
For the third consecutive years NYC auto accident injuries in January stayed above 4,000. 4,347 people were injured in motor vehicle accidents in New York City in January compared to 5,361 in December 2017 and respectively 4,351, 4,383, 3,624, 3,449, 3,899 and 3,993 in January 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.

Auto Accident Injuries NYC January 2019
Pedestrian fatalities increased by more than 40% in January 2019 compared to January 2018. However the number of pedestrian fatalities was still half what it was before Vision Zero started. 10 pedestrians died in traffic accidents in New York City in January 2019 compared to 7 in January 2018 and 20 in January 2013. A month before in December 2018, 16 pedestrian died in traffic fatalities. The period covering October November December and January is the most dangerous for pedestrians  because the sun goes down a little bit after 4 pm and pedestrians become less visible by motorists during the rush hours.  The city is running preventive campaigns to raise awareness about this problem.  It looks like the campaign was more effective last year than this year as monthly pedestrian injuries never went above 10 during the entire period of October November December and January. This year, except for October monthly pedestrian fatalities were back above 10 during the fall and winter months.

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schoolbus1Reckless drivers who endanger young pedestrians by driving around NYC school buses while the stop sign is on might soon be caught on camera and ticketed.

The proposal by  Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan) to equip buses with cameras  is coming days after two NYC drivers were seen driving on school sidewalks to avoid school bus traffic. Both cars were caught by surveillance cameras and the police are actively looking for the drivers. However in many other instances impatient New Yorkers are putting the life of children at risk by going around school buses and are never caught by the police. These reckless drivers should be identified and punished so others will think twice before acting recklessly by driving around school buses.  For now drivers who are passing the school buses despite the stop signal only receive a ticket if the police catch them doing it. The ticket is $250. In New York State it is estimated that 50,000 drivers ignore the rule every year.

Motor vehicle accident is the number one cause of fatalities for children therefore drivers must be cautious while driving near school buses or near bus areas

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scene of the fatal hit and run accidentA pedestrian died from her injuries after being struck by a taxi driver who tried to flee the scene of the accident but was shortly after arrested by the police. 26 year old Sherena Hundalani was walking on the sidewalk of Queens Boulevard near 63rd Road next to a gas station when she was struck by a green taxi. It was not exactly clear if the driver pulled in the station to get some gas or to cut across. Witnesses saw him driving through the station and turning left onto the Queens Boulevard service road where he slammed into Sherena.

Good Samaritan stopped the reckless driver

A young man going by the name of Bolat told the News that he was at the scene of  the accident with his wife and kid and that he witnessed the taxi driver behaving erratically. The taxi almost drove into him and his family before abruptly turning on the service road slamming into Sherena. Then the driver tried to leave the scene of the accident and drove the wrong way in the middle lane of the road before pulling over. After he pulled over Bolat opened the front door of the taxi and took out the key. Then the police arrived and brought  the driver to the station. He was released later on at night. So far the man hasn’t charged and the police indicated that they were still investigating the accident.

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NYC pedestrian safety action planHalf of NYC fatal pedestrian accidents occur on 7% or 424 miles of the city’s streets. These specific streets are going to be the main focus of the new Borough Pedestrian Safety Action Plans that were just released by the DOT yesterday. Mayor de Blasio announced that by the end of this year specific streets and avenues will undergo design changes to protect pedestrians from being killed in traffic.  The following priority corridors were identified for safety modifications:

  • Westchester Avenue, Boston Road and Soundview Avenue in the Bronx
  • Linden Boulevard, 8th Avenue, Surf Avenue and Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn
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NYC Motor vehicle accidents injuries reached a record high in 2018. 1,083 pedestrians, 4,281 cyclists, 18,687 passengers and 26,843 motorists suffered personal injury in a crash in New York City in 2018. 60,646 people were injured in NYC traffic accidents in 2018 compared to 58,990 in 2017 and 54,818 in 2013. Over the last five years the number of traffic injuries increased by more than 10%. The main reason for this increase are motorists injured in auto accidents often related to distracted driving. Distracted driving is the number one cause of crashes in New York.

Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries NYC 2018
The total number of traffic fatalities in New York City in 2018 was below 200 for the first time since Vision Zero was implemented. 112 pedestrians, 70 motorists, 9 cyclists and 8 passengers were killed in traffic accidents in the city in 2018. Annual traffic fatalities declined by more than 30% since 2013.

traffic fatalities New York 2018
The total number of crashes in the city has been culminating above 227,000 for the last 3 years with a record 227,924 accidents in 2018. Driver inattention is the primary cause of accidents followed by driver following too closely. Backing unsafely and changing lanes unsafely are two other common causes of accidents in the city. Since 2013 auto accidents increased by 12%.

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New-York-School-Zone-Speed-CameraSpeed cameras have proven their efficiency in reducing car accidents as well as  pedestrian injuries and deaths. As part of the Vision Zero Program, 140 speed cameras were installed nearby schools all over the city. The installation of the cameras led to a decline of 63% of  speeding in school zones and pedestrian injuries decreased by 23%.

Based on this successful record the city asked the NY Senate for more cameras but New York State Senators refused to vote on a bill to continue the program and increase the number of cameras in NYC school zones to 290. As a result, all the 140 cameras were shut off in the middle of last summer.

After that episode, the Mayor signed a new city bill at the beginning of September to not only preserve but also expand the use of speed cameras in school zones. In order for the bill to become law, Cuomo declared a state of emergency and so far has been renewing the emergency order every month. The bill provided no cap on the number of speed cameras that the city was permitted to deploy.  The result of a collaborative effort between City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Transportation Committee Chair Ydanis Rodriguez, the bill can only expire after the state legislature passes a “photo speed violation monitoring program in the City of New York that is identical to, substantially similar to or more expansive in scope than the program that would result from the enactment of A. 7798-C, as passed by the New York state assembly on June 18, 2018.”