wrongful death NYC

Published on: February 3, 2022

Another pedestrian killed by a reckless driver in Brooklyn

A Brooklyn woman is the 12th pedestrian to die in a car accident in New York City since the beginning of this year. In a very graphic video the 64 year old pedestrian is seen walking West on the North sidewalk of Foster Avenue. As she arrives at the intersection of East 17th Avenue, she waits for the light to turn green and then proceeds to walk on the snowy street. At the same time, the driver of a grey Chevy makes a right turn from Foster onto 17th Street, does not yield or slows down and slams into the pedestrian.

The driver, a 57 year old woman, stayed at the scene of the accident and so far was not charged. The victim was rushed to the hospital where she died.

While the video clearly shows that the driver did not yield to the pedestrian, the snow that had not been proprely removed from the intersection made the area even more dangerous to navigate for pedestrians and vehicles.

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Published on: February 1, 2022

Almost 50 people died in NYC subway accidents during the first 8 months of 2021

By GGCRBHS&M

According to recent records released by the MTA, 42 people died in collisions with a subway train and 5 others died after falling on the tracks or being electrified by the third rail. These numbers are very similar to those recorded during the same period a year earlier with 48 people dying in NYC subway accidents. Among the causes of the collision, 16 of them were suicides compared to 10 for the same period of the previous year. The report of the MTA also indicates that 8 people fell from crossing between cars compared to 6 during the same period of 2020 however they did not mention if these accidents resulted in deaths or injuries.

Should subway stations be safer and equipped with safety barriers?

These recent data from the MTA do not include several shoving incidents occurring during last fall and winter with the last one resulting in the death of Michelle Go. Michelle Go was waiting for a train at the Time Square station when a deranged man pushed her in front of the train. The recent death of Michelle Go might have been prevented if the New York subway was equipped with protective barriers or platform screen doors.

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Published on: January 28, 2022

2021 had the most car accident fatalities in NYC since 2013

By GGCRBHS&M

2021 was the deadliest year of Vision Zero with 273 people dying in car accidents in New York City. According to a recent report by “Transportation Alternatives”, the number of deaths in 2021 represent a 33% increase of fatalities compared to 2018 which was the safest year of the Vision Zero program.

Hit and run accidents leading to critical injuries increased by 45% compared to a year before and doubled compared to 2018 while arrests of hit and run drivers decreased by 12% compared to 2018. Additionally, only 3% of hit and run cases got solved.

Transportation Alternatives also studied data from crashmapper and found that the share of SUV’s involved in accidents resulting in pedestrian deaths increased by 42% between the first term and the second term of mayor de Blasio. Big vehicles decrease visibility and are especially a danger to cyclists and pedestrians.

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Published on: January 26, 2022

New New York Mayor, Eric Adams, pledges to make streets safer and reduce car accident injuries and deaths in the city

By GGCRBHS&M

Last year, NYC Car accident fatalities reached their highest level since 2013 and the carnage continued in January. After a 15 year old girl was killed by a school bus in Brooklyn last week, (see previous blog) Mayor Adams told New Yorkers that he plans to make the city safer by redesigning 1,000 intersections and use the NYPD to crack down on reckless drivers. Adams said that cyclists and drivers who failed to yield to pedestrians will be ticketed as well as drivers who run red lights or fail to stop at stop signs. The NYPD will also crack down on drivers and cyclists who do not yield to pedestrians while crossing intersections without stop signs. This new regulation is supposed to make safer around 1,200 intersections that have no signalization in the city.

Adams held his press conference at the intersection of Caton Ave and Coney Island Avenue and said 26 people suffered injuries in car accidents at this particular intersection and that 5 other people died in auto accidents on Coney Island Avenue. The mayor wants to focus on improving intersections in the city and make them safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Previous statistics indicate that most accidents resulting in injuries or deaths in New York City occurred at intersections. Therefore intersections have to be safer.

The mayor pledged that by the end of 2022, 1,000 intersections in New York City will be improved. These improvements include the addition of 100 raised pedestrian crossings and 100 bike corrals at intersections. Some parking places where big vehicles reduce visibility for pedestrians will be removed as well.

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Published on: January 19, 2022

15 year old pedestrian killed by school bus on her way to school in Brooklyn, NYC

By GGCRBHS&M

A 15 year old girl was fatally struck by a yellow school bus driver in Brooklyn, NYC. The accident occurred yesterday morning around 7:55 am. Antonia Zatulovska was on her way to school. She was in the crosswalk at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Avenue P when a long yellow school bus with children on board made a turn off Avenue P onto Bedford Avenue and rolled over her. Surveillance video caught the shocking accident.

After he rolled over the victim, the driver of the bus briefly stopped and then sped away. Police tracked him down and found him and the bus on Neptune Avenue near West 6th Street in Coney Island.

Bus driver not charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident so far

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Published on: January 13, 2022

NYC Pedestrian deaths at their lowest and motorist deaths at their highest for November

By GGCRBHS&M

18 people died (8 pedestrians, 8 motorists, 1, cyclist, 1 passenger) and 4,434 were injured in NYC crashes in November 2021 compared to respectively 28 and 4,039 in 2020. The total number of auto fatalities was also lower than in October 2021 during which 28 people died in crashes in the city. While the pandemic changed the way people are commuting in the city, the number of traffic deaths which had exploded in November 2020, is back to a level similar to the last 3 previous years, hovering around 20. Globally, over the last 8 years, the NYC traffic fatalities trendline is declining, however it is the first time since last May that monthly traffic fatalities are actually below this trendline. (Click on graphs for full view)

Pedestrians and motorists represented most of the deaths with 8 of each category dying in crashes in November. Additionnally one cyclist and one passenger also died in crashes during that month. In November 2020, the high number of deaths was mostly caused by a much higher number of cyclists (6) and pedestrians (13) deaths, while the number of motorist and passenger deaths were lower and similar to November 2021 (6 and 1). November 21 was also a better month than October 21 during which 8 motorists, 5 passengers, 3 cyclists and 12 pedestrians lost their lives in crashes.

NYC Auto accident injuries remained lower than usual last November with 4,434 crash injuries compared to respectively 4,039, 4,733, 4,943, 4,892, 5,014, 4,357, 4,222 and 4,692 in November 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013. Before the pandemic, the monthly number of car accident injuries was usually above 4500 during the month of November. During the pandemic it dropped lower and as a result the trendline which was previously slightly increasing is now slightly decreasing.

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Published on: January 11, 2022

At least 19 dead including 9 children and 32 critically injured in NYC Bronx apartment fire caused by defective space heater

By GGCRBHS&M

A door that malfunctioned and was left open in an apartment in which a defective heater started a fire caused heavy smoke to spread through a residential high-rise building in the Bronx and lead to the death of 19 people including 9 children. Another 32 people who suffered critical injury and 3 who suffered serious injury were rushed to the hospital. 19 other people suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene. This is the most catastrophic fire in New York City since the Happy Land fire 30 years ago. A couple, Mahamadou Toure and his wife, lost 2 of their 5 children in the fire.

The fire started in a duplex located at the third floor of a building located at 333 E. 181st St. in the Bronx and was caused by a defective space heater. The door of the apartment where the fire started was left open and a very heavy black smoke invaded all the hallways of the building. The building had no fire escape and the stairwells that were supposed to be used as emergency exits quickly filled with heavy smoke. The smoke also invaded all the stairwell exits that were left open. Firefighters found victims in cardiac arrest on every floor and in the stairwells. Other people were trapped in their apartments. Those on the highest floor were told by 911 to put towels at the bottom of their door and stay in their apartment until they were told it would be safe to go out. People on the lowest floors closer to the fire were evacuated by their window.

The building that was built in 1972 under federal guidelines had multiple units converted into duplexes. According to FDNY some spaces were hard to reach because of the old design of the building.

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Published on: December 2, 2021

Cycling in New York City surges and so do injuries and deaths

By GGCRBHS&M

Vision Zero recently released a cycling trend in New York City. However the presentation is a little bit disappointing as it doesn’t contain any bicycle accidents statistics or safety analysis that compare the surge in the number of bicycle rides in the city with the number of bicycle accident injuries and deaths. So we used the bicycle accident injuries and deaths statistics from the NYPD and we compared them with the DOT estimated numbers of rides.

While the city has been making some improvements over the years and created new bike lanes, numbers clearly show that this is not enough as a record high percentage of riders dying in bicycle accidents were recorded in 2019 and 2020. While the de Blasio administration has been pushing New Yorkers to use bicycles and other clean modes of transportation, recent data show that more has to be done to protect New York cyclists.

The ratio of bicycle accident fatalities compared to the number of rides which was pretty high in 2014 when Vision Zero started decreased significantly in 2015, remained a little higher in 2016 and 2017 and droped in 2018. Unfortunately it didn’t last. In 2019, the percentage of cyclists deaths was back at the 2014 levels and it reached a record high in 202o.

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Published on: November 4, 2021

NYC auto accident deaths remained alarmingly high and crash injuries increased during Q3 2021

By GGCRBHS&M

During the third quarter of 2021, a total of 71 people died in crashes in New York City including 24 pedestrians, 5 cyclists, 9 passengers and 33 motorists. Since the Covid19 crisis started, auto accident fatalities in New York City have peaked and street safety activists are pointing fingers at the de Blasio administration for failing to keep the streets safe.

A total of 14,335 people were injured in traffic accidents in New York City during Q3 2021 compared to respectively 13,437, 16,083, 16,300, 15,860, 16,048, 13,998, 13,472, 14,900 during Q3 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013. Before 2015, the passengers category was the one with the most injuries with usually between 5,000 and 6,000 passenger injuries during Q3. In 2015 after the introduction of the Vision Zero program, passenger injuries significantly declined to 4,121 while motorist injuries jumped from 4,502 to 6,043. The increase in motorist injuries is linked to an increase in accidents related to distracted driving and more and more people using their cellphone while driving. After the first year of Vision Zero, passenger injuries during Q3 went back above 5,000 and then, back below 5,000 after the Covid19 crisis hit in 2020. Motorist injuries, mostly linked to distracted driving continued to rise reaching a record high in 2019 with 7,437 motorists injured during Q3.

6,349 motorists were injured in car accidents in New York City during the third quarter of 2021 compared to 5,931 for the same period of 2020 and 7,437 for the same period of 2019. Motor vehicle accident injuries reached a peak during Q3 2019 in New York City and then dropped to levels never seen since 2014 when the Covid19 crisis hit. They were up during this year’s Q3 but not as high as what they used to be during Q3 2019.

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Published on: October 21, 2021

Reckless driver who ran a red light killed his best friend last Saturday morning in Brooklyn

By GGCRBHS&M

Two childhood friends were driving back home from an after-hours party when the one driving ran a red light and crashed into another car. The passenger was ejected and died. The accident occurred around 6:30 am last Saturday morning. According to the police, 26 year old Jovanni Padilla was speeding down Saratoga Ave when he ran a red light at the intersection of Sutter Ave and crashed into a KIA SUV. His best friend, 23 year old Kainen Martin was asleep in the passenger seat. Ther impact was so intense that he was ejected from the car. The police found him lying in the street and he was rushed to the hospital where he later on died from his injuries. The driver, Jovanni Padilla did not have a license and was drunk at the time of the accident. He was also trying to escape on foot when the police arrived and caught him. Padilla was first charged with DWI and driving without a license and later on with mansluaghter, assault and vehicular manslaughter. The driver of the KIA SUV was hospitalized with minor injuries.

Best friends since childhood

Jovanni and Kainen had been best friends since they were children. Padilla felt so guilty after he understood that his friend had died that he asked the cop “Just shoot me in the head”. He later on attended the candle light vigil held at the house of Kainen’s mother in Brooklyn. Both Jovanni and Kainen’s family knew each other and both were distraught by the fatal accident.

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