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Articles Tagged with truck accident nyc

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37 pedestrians and one bicyclist were among the 50 victims who died in NYC traffic accidents last fall (September, October, November).  This is 15 less accident fatalities than in the fall of 2015,  21 less than in the fall of 2014 and 34 less than in the fall of 2013. Since 2013, the number of people dying on the road has been decreasing each fall in the city.

While less people are dying in NYC car accidents, more are getting injured. After recording a decline in 2014, the number of people injured in traffic accidents during the fall months went back up slightly in 2015  and reached its highest in 2016. 15,480 people were injured in traffic accidents in New York City during the 3-month period of September, October and November  2016 compared to 13,693 during the same period of 2015, 13,350 during the same period of 2014 and 14,449 during the same period of 2013.

The total number of motor vehicle accidents in New York City is continuing to rise as well.

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accident sceneA  NYC pedestrian was fatally struck by a dump truck. A bicyclist died after being clipped by a box truck. A pedestrian lost his life after being hit by a car. All 3 accidents occurred in Brooklyn Monday afternoon.

85 year old Rafael Nieves was walking back home from a trip to the supermarket around 1pm in Williamsburg. As he was crossing Grand Street near Lorimer a dump truck ran over him. The driver didn’t even stop. The police located him later on. According to their investigation the truck driver didn’t know he hit someone. Nieves, a Puerto Rican military veteran leaves behind him two children and five grand children.

A few hours later, around 4:45 pm, a 70 year old bicyclist died after being hit by a delivery truck. Iosif Plazinsky was riding his bike on Avenue X near Coney Island Ave. The bicyclist was hit twice by the truck. After the first collision he lost balance and fell. Then the truck veered to the right and struck him again. Plazinsky was rushed to the hospital but he couldn’t be saved. The truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident. Plazinsky was a retired construction worker from Odessa. He lived in Brighton Beach with his family. He had 3 grand children and one about to be born.

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the truck that struck the bicyclistA bicyclist suffered critical injury after being struck by a tractor trailer truck in New York City.  The accident happened yesterday morning around 7:15 am at the intersection of Jay Street and Tillary Street in Brooklyn. According to Streetblog the truck struck the bicyclist while making a right from Jay onto Tillary. The victim, a 35 year old man, got stuck under the truck.  His left leg was completely mangled and  he suffered massive head trauma according to the NY Daily News.  He was transported to the hospital in critical condition.

The truck driver stayed at the scene of the accident and hasn’t been charged. The truck was a tractor trailer truck belonging to Mountain Man Sand and Gravel. The truck was on an authorized truck road however it was larger than 55 feet long. Trucks larger than 55 feet long are only allowed in New York City if they transport material that is “non-divisible” and have special authorization. In the case of this accident, the Gothamist indicates that the truck was a Mac trailer Dump truck.  There is a high probability that the truck was not legally authorized to drive where the accident happened. This is the second time this year that a bicyclist has been struck by an over-sized truck driving in a pedestrians and bicyclists area. In April, a cyclist died after being struck by a tractor trailer truck which was illegally driving in a Brooklyn residential area (see previous blog).

Jay Street is considered one of the most dangerous streets for bicyclists in New York City. Recently, the DOT started to remodel the street and add protected bike lanes. However at the intersection of Jay and Tillary protective bike lanes are still nonexistent. Since the beginning of the year, 3 people were injured in bicycle accidents at this intersection according to Vision Zero Map. Also according to data from Transportation Alternatives there were 41 pedestrian and bicyclist accidents at this location between 2002 and 2011.

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3 people died and 11 people were injured in  a NYC crash. This morning around 4:20 am several cars and a truck collided on the Long Island Expressway near Maurice Ave in Maspeth, Queens. 3 people died in the collision. 4 injured people were transported to the hospital including two in critical condition. 7 others were treated for minor injuries at the scene of the accident. According to CBS, a first car hit the guardrail and split in two. A second car behind it tried to avoid it and crashed as well. A dump truck then crashed into several cars in front of him. This is the second accident this month in which multiple people were killed in an accident on The L.I.E. In the prior accident 6 people died when a car crossed the center median hitting two cars.

 

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Sam Schwartz21 garbage truck accidents occurred in NYC between January 1st 2010 and December 31st 2014 according to data provided by the NYC DOT to Sam Schwartz Engineer for a study on private carting safety. The study is part of a larger analysis on the private carting industry that led to the announcement of the implementation of a new zoned-collection system by Mayor de Blasio’s administration (see Politico). The implementation of this system will significantly reduce the number of miles traveled by private garbage trucks  in New York City. As a result the air quality should improve significantly and garbage truck accidents should decrease.

According to Sam Schwartz private carting safety study, the severity of private garbage truck crashes is much higher than the severity of all NYC crashes with fatal and injury crashes accounting for 86% of all crashes. Pedestrians are involved in 36% of the crashes. Among the pedestrian crashes half of them occurred as the pedestrian was crossing with the signal.  Private garbage truck accidents happen mostly at night as most carting operations occur at night time. The study also include a safety analysis based on private carting company employees interviews. In regards to traffic safety, night time driving, bad weather and intoxicated pedestrians during week-end nights were considered the most challenging. Another traffic safety concern was to prevent injuries to pedestrians while backing up. The visibility being extremely reduced with such trucks, it is important that the helper provide accurate guidance to the truck driver while backing up. Employees were also asked about possible safety measures and proposed additional route supervisors, better fleet maintenance, improved driving techniques and providing specific driving courses, training on location and training on handling hazardous materials, additional safety meetings and stricter hiring criteria.

Hopefully when the new system is implemented, less miles traveled should lead to less people injured in traffic accidents involving garbage trucks.

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A man in his 70s suffered serious injury after being struck by a tractor-trailer truck in Queens, NYC. The man was crossing Jamaica Ave. near 168th Street around noon when he was hit by a dairy truck. His legs got pinned under the wheels and were severely mangled. An airbag was used by the first responders to lift the wheel from the man’s leg. He was then transported to the hospital. The pedestrian suffered massive leg injury but he was expected to survive. The truck driver who stayed at the scene of the accident wasn’t charged.

Read more in the NY Daily News

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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.

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Three people were injured in a truck accident in New York City on Monday afternoon. The truck was driving on the Cross Bronx Expressway when it crashed though a guardrail on the westbound lane. The truck was driving in the middle lane of the highway when a black car which was trying to pass it hit the front wheel of the truck. The impact caused the truck driver to loose control of the vehicle. The truck hit another car before flipping over the guardrail. It ended dangling off the overpass on the top of the Sheridan Expressway. The driver was able to extricate himself out of the cabin after the accident. He suffered head injuries and was transported to the hospital where he received 7 stitches to the top of his head. Two other people were also transported to the hospital with minor injuries. Both the Cross Bronx Expressway and the Sheridan Expressway were closed to traffic for hours. A crane had to be brought to the scene of the accident to lift the truck back to the highway. The police are still investigating the exact cause of the accident.

Read more here

 

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Heather29 year old Heather Lough died from critical injuries sustained after she was struck by a truck while riding her bike in Brooklyn, NYC. The young woman had just been hired to work at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and was on her way to work when the accident happened.  Heater was coming out of the Metro North station and was riding her bicycle on Southern Boulevard when she was hit by a truck making a left turn at high speed. The bicyclist got stuck under the wheels and she was dragged for some distance under the truck until the driver stopped.  She was taken to the hospital in critical condition where she died from her injuries after five days of pain and suffering. The truck driver, 45 year old Robert Owens from Upper Manhattan was charged with reckless driving and failure to yield.

Heather’s best friend set up a fundraiser to pay for a natural burial near her family in Washington State. If you wish you can donate here.

The picture is from the fundraising page

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bicycle truck accidentA bicyclist died after being struck by a tractor-trailer truck in Brooklyn, NYC, on Wednesday morning around 9:00 am. The accident occurred at the intersection of Sterling Place and 6th Ave in Park Slope in an area where tractor-trailers are not authorized to drive except if they have a special permit. In NYC, tractor-trailers can only drive on designated truck roads but according to local residents it is common to see big rigs driving on 6th Avenue especially since the Atlantic Yards has been developed.(see video below). The NYPD doesn’t seem to really care about this issue as so far since the beginning of the year no tickets for truck route violations have been issued by the 78th precinct where the accident happened. Instead of admitting that the truck wasn’t supposed to be driving in a narrow residential avenue, the NYPD blamed the bicyclist for his own death.

In a first statement the police implied that the cyclist was at fault and hit the rear wheel as he was trying to grab the side of the truck to hitch a ride. In a second statement the NYPD changed its version and said that the bicyclist was pulled under the wheel of the truck by a wind force. For this to happen, the truck would have to have been driving at a speed that would likely be impossible to reach on this narrow Brooklyn Ave.  It seems pretty obvious to us hat the big rig wasn’t supposed to drive in the residential area and that he recklessly passed the bicyclist too close. Additionally, witnesses reported that he was driving with headphones on.

Read more in the Gothamist