Rare Single-Car Accident Kills 5 in Queens
Single-vehicle accidents themselves aren’t rare. But what is rare is for a single-vehicle accident to end with multiple deaths and the vehicle looking like it crashed with at least one other moving car. But in an accident in Queens over the weekend, that’s exactly what happened.
A Mercedes Benz SUV carrying seven passengers in the early Sunday morning hours was mangled when it collided with a pillar. Three women and two children were killed. The driver, one adult passenger and another child were all rushed to the hospital.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the vehicle was leaving a gathering of Nigerian immigrants who had gathered from around the country in Queens for a banquet and meeting. They were heading home around 3 a.m.
Witnesses report that the SUV breezed through two red lights and was traveling at a high rate of speed. The driver, a 45-year old woman, collided with a pillar supporting the AirTran to JFK airport. Continue reading
Taxi Jumps Curb in Accident, Hits Pedestrian on East 79 Street NYC
Two cabs collided on Monday, sending one onto the sidewalk. It was there that the taxi struck a young woman, sending her to the hospital with head injuries.
According to DNAinfo.com, the accident occurred on the corner of Second Avenue and East 79th Street. An SUV taxi was making a left onto 79th when a Crown Vic cab, traveling down 79th collided with it.
Both cab drivers escaped without injuries.
After the immediate impact, the SUV jumped the curb, where it struck the identity. According to DNAinfo.com, her identity and condition are unknown. However, witnesses say after being hit, she was face down in a pool of blood.
“He was running the red light, so he hit the pedestrian,” said the Crown Vic driver of the SUV cabbie.
A doorman at the Continental Plaza, near the intersection, said it isn’t uncommon for vehicles to fly through that intersection, trying to catch the lights. He ran outside when he heard the impact.
In a city this crowded, it isn’t surprising when a vehicle hits a pedestrian. But, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a tragic event and one worth discussing. Continue reading
Trucker Missed Construction Signs in Fatal Wreck
Six people were killed last week in a tragic accident that occurred upstate on Route 11 near Fort Drum Army post. A truck driver plowed into the back of a line of cars who were waiting for a paving project on the highway.
According to the Washington Post, the police report that truck driver James A. Mills, 45, was alert at the time of the accident and just failed to notice the construction signs and the stopped vehicles. Mills reportedly tried to brake before the accident and “didn’t appear to be impaired or distracted,” according to state police.
Investigator Rick Hathaway reported that there were no text messages or calls immediately before the accident. He also said that Mills was cooperative and helped to pull a victim from their car before it caught fire.
Mills crashed into an SUV that burst into flames on impact. A family of four within the SUV died at the scene. The tractor trailer accident ultimately involved six cars as the SUV was pushed forward in the line of stopped vehicles. One additional victim died later at the hospital. Continue reading
Brooklyn Fire Truck, Motorcycle Crash Leaving One Dead
A Brooklyn motorcyclist was on his way home Monday when he was hit by a fire truck rushing to the scene of a brush fire. The man, Reginald Brown, was killed in the accident.
Forty-six year old Brown was ironically stopping at home before he went to a friend’s memorial service. That friend was killed in a motorcycle crash one year ago in Brooklyn. Brown was to meet up with friends from his biker club to commemorate the anniversary of the death.
The fire truck was heading to a rubbish fire on Norstrand Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant when the accident occurred. The two collided on the corner of Monroe Avenue and Marcy Avenue at around 4 p.m.
“By the time he got to the intersection, the fire truck came through and hit him,” said one witness to DNAinfo.com. “He went flying through the air and hit the glass of the beauty salon.”
Brown was pronounced dead at Woohull Hospital. Continue reading
Federal Government Cracks Down on Distracted Driving
The feds are getting involved in what is perhaps one of the leading causes of car accidents: distracted driving. They’ve set up a website (Distraction.gov) with numerous tools to aid in educating drivers and preventing accidents.
According to Distraction.gov, distracted driving is defined as, “any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving. All distractions endanger driver, passenger, and bystander safety.” They go on to provide examples of distracted driving, perhaps the most prevalent and widely discussed of which is texting.
If you spend any amount of time on the roads, you see people texting and driving. You also probably see people putting on makeup, fumbling with their music, reaching forward to use their GPS, and eating. Any of these activities can take your eyes off the road. Any one of them could lead to disaster. Continue reading
Port Authority Reports Traffic Accidents Down
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reports accidents are down on the bridges and tunnels it operates. They credit this reduction to several things, including increased signage and preventative measures as the cause of safer crossings.
According to a press release from the authority, there has been a 36 percent decrease in auto accidents agency-wide since 2000. Also, there has been a drop of 12 percent in the first quarter of 2012 when compared with the same period last year. This continues a downward trend. From 2010 to 2011, accidents on bridges and tunnels fell by 252 or 5 percent.
The Port Authority says they have implemented new measures to prevent accidents, and that these measures are working. Those preventative efforts include: highway radio messages, installation of new signs, new traffic signals, pavement and crosswalk markings, and continued enforcement.
According to Executive Director Pat Foye, “We are committed to ensuring the safety of our customers who use our crossings, airports, and marine facilities on a daily basis. We applaud out engineers who tirelessly work to make sure we properly assess and identify highly hazardous locations so we can continue to reduce risks to our travelers.” Continue reading
Outrage Over Carriage Horse, Motorcycle and SUV Accident
An accident last week has animal right’s activists calling again for the end of the NYC carriage horse industry, an industry they say isn’t safe for the animals. This particular accident involved a motorcycle, SUV, and carriage horse. Though all of the people in the accident escaped injury-free, the horse had lacerations to the face.
Activists have reportedly been pushing to end the use of horses on city streets for years. This latest accident only adds fuel to their fire.
“This is going to happen over and over again; we know that,” said Edita Birnkrant, the New York director of Friends of Animals. “I want to challenge Mayor Bloomberg right now. How can you continue to justify this?”
It isn’t clear how this particular accident happened, though photos from DNAinfo.com show a motorcycle laying on its side in the street. An SUV was also reportedly involved. No person was injured and the horse will undergo a veterinary examination before determining the extent of his injuries.
New York’s carriage horses are a staple of the city. The sounds of their hooves moving through the park are nostalgic for many people. But are they a danger to themselves and others? Continue reading
NTSB Blames Driver Fatigue for Fatal Bus Crash
In an investigation that’s lasted over a year, and one we blogged about just last month, the National Transportation Safety Board released its findings in a final hearing last week, pointing to driver fatigue and speed as the causes in a New York bus crash that ultimately killed 15 people.
The bus accident occurred in March 2011 as a bus carrying 32 people was heading towards Manhattan from a trip to the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. It was before dawn when the bus hit a guardrail, rolled on its side and slid into a large sign post, shearing off the top of the bus and killing several people instantly.
In all, 15 were killed and 7 were seriously injured. Continue reading
Police Criticized for Handling of Pedestrian Accidents
Many New Yorkers take it for granted, believing that if they are ever hit by a car as they cross a busy street, the police will take their time to launch an investigation into the accident, testing the driver for alcohol, measuring skid marks on the street, and coming up with a full report. But, that isn’t always the case, and one man is now taking his story public to bring people’s attention to what he believes are the shortcomings of the handling of such pedestrian accidents.
Jacob Stevens, a New Yorker, watched as his wife was hit and killed by a driver early on a July morning last year. He doesn’t remember seeing the accident, and is grateful for that, but he remembers the sound. Stevens believes the police didn’t do enough at the time of the accident because his wife was not dead, according to the NY Times.
The police unit Stevens is angry with is actually a division of the New York Highway Patrol; it’s called the Accident Investigations Squad, or AIS. The AIS team is made up of 19 detectives and 4 supervisors who respond to the most serious of accidents. Their directive is to only respond when there is a fatality or if death is likely. Continue reading
One Survives Taxi Accident on Long Island Expressway
11- year old Gabriel Larson was the only person riding in a NYC cab that survived a rainy accident this past week. His grandmother, taking him on the vacation of a lifetime, and the cab driver were both killed when the cab was hit by a garbage truck.
According to the NY Daily News, 60-year old Suzanne Nicholson wrapped her body around her grandson seconds before impact, protecting him from the blow of the truck. Both were rushed to Elmhurst General Hospital where Nicholson was declared dead and Larson was treated for his injuries.
The catastrophic car accident allegedly happened when the taxi they were riding in “clipped” the rear end of a Porsche, sending the Porsche rolling over onto its driver’s side. The cab also flipped onto its side, right before it was hit by a garbage truck. It was this impact that killed Nicholson and the cab driver, 46-year old Mohammed Hussain. Both the driver of the Porsche and the garbage truck escaped without injuries. Continue reading
Judge Rules Texter Not Liable for Accident
There is no doubt that sending text messages behind the wheel is a recipe for disaster. But what if you are the person on the other side of the text—the one sending messages to a driver—can you be held responsible if an accident happens?
According to Morris County Superior Court Judge David Rand, you can’t.
Last week, Judge Rand ruled that a young woman could not be held liable for the text messages she was sending her boyfriend just before he was involved in an accident that resulted in a man and wife each losing a leg to amputation. Continue reading
Who Is To Blame for NYC Accidents?
Who can we blame for the majority of accidents in the city? That question was asked of New Yorkers in a recent poll from NY1 and Marist. What they found is that opinions vary and many cyclists, motorists, and pedestrians are quick to point the finger at someone else.
The vast majority, when presented with the question, “Who causes New York City Accidents—bicyclists, pedestrians, or motorists?” said that drivers were the ones to blame. Sixty-eight percent, in fact, said that those driving cars are at fault for most accidents. Seventy percent of men attributed accidents to motorists, while the number was slightly lower (65%) for women.
Coming in a distant second was the people who thought bicyclists contributed to most accidents, with 19%/ Finally 13% of respondents attributed accidents to pedestrians.
But what does this mean? Well, for one, that NYC is crowded and everyone plays a role in avoiding accidents and two, not everyone agrees on who is to blame.
Some of those surveyed admit to their own shortcomings, things that they might do that could increase the likelihood of an accident. One pedestrian, interviewed by NY1, said that he is often oblivious to the traffic around him because he, like many others these days, is usually wearing earphones and can’t hear what’s going on around him. Continue reading