A 10-year-old girl was hit by a livery cab at the southeast corner of 96th street and Broadway at around 5:40 p.m. on Wednesday, according to police and a witness who arrived on the scene after the crash. An FDNY spokesman confirmed a person had been struck and was transported to Harlem Hospital in stable condition, but did not have the person’s age.
Update: Sergeant Carmine Semioli of the 24th precinct sent us the following description:
At approximately 5:45pm there was a motor vehicle collision involving a livery cab and a 10 year old female. The incident is described as follows: at 5:45pm a livery cab was traveling north bound on Broadway approaching West 96th street with a green traffic signal. The 10 year old pedestrian attempted to cross from the South East corner of 96 street to the center island of the roadway. She was then struck by the vehicle and suffered an injury to her right leg. She was treated by EMS at the scene and then transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The witness who sent in the tip told us that she arrived just after the collision:
“I was crossing east as were others from the West side of Broadway. People were saying, ‘A child’s under the car. Under the car!’
On the median, I could see a taxi had stopped. A crowd surrounded it. The talk was there was a child under the taxi, under the car. Someone on a cell phone was calling. A few of us directed cars east away from the taxi and the small gathering around it. In minutes an ambulance, without lights or sirens, came up Broadway and stopped in the left lane at 96. I left then, looking back as two NYFD trucks raced down the West side of Broadway, the first turning left to take up station and offer real help.
No police were on the scene.
Staggering that this would happen again at this intersection, with all the changes made to prevent exactly this from happening.”
That intersection was redesigned after multiple pedestrians were struck and killed nearby last year.
If you read my comment from a month ago,I predicted this will happen and it still will until they change the light! Every single time the north turn arrow goes green someone walks into the traffic thinking the crosswalk is theirs. Put up a sign already!” Don’t walk until the arrow is red ” or put the turn arrow in the initial green light. Of course the politician will only react until there are more people run over. If anyone doesn’t think this is true, stand in the se corner for fifteen minutes and watch for yourself
Agreed Dave. Where this girl was crossing, most jaywalkers are not being openly defiant- they honestly don’t know about the left turn arrow. they have no way of seeing it, and no signage, so how would they know unless it’s their usual subway station?
I think it’s absurd that jaywalkers are cut some slack because they don’t know about the left-turn signal. Even more absurd is that this situation should be corrected by installing yet another sign to let them know there’s a turn signal.
Isn’t it sufficient that the city spends a considerable amount of money installing and maintaining the Walk/Don’t Walk signals? Those signals are the only indicators pedestrians should rely on when crossing the street. Traffic signals are for motorists, not pedestrians.
I was watching this intersection this evening. On a typical light cycle, about 12 cars would go north on Broadway, 2 or 3 cars max would turn left on West 96th, and 35 to 40 pedestrians would cross between the SE corner and the center median where the subway entrance is.
I’m sure it varies by time of day, but I was wondering, why not prohibit the left turn at certain times, for safety’s sake.
Harlem Hospital was really the closest, best choice?
No–St. Luke’s is closer at W. 112 St./Amsterdam Ave.
One solution is to require cars to emit a loud sound when making a turn similar to the sound made by trucks when backing up.
Really? Do we not have enough noise pollution from honking cars already?
How about actual enforcement against drivers who text and speed instead of an enforcement lottery where only 4 people are ticketed a day?
I agree with @Dave. That left hand turn on to 96th from Broadway is a problem. Pedestrians cross when they don’t have the light. This is a general comment, not a comment on the above incident.
Horrible.
But agree with other comments that intersection is congested and very confusing and very dangerous.
And sadly, I see many people – including parents with children – who cross on red light.
There is zero police enforcement at that intersection. Cars routinely blow right through the red lights often creating gridlock and blocking the pedestrian crossing. The police need to go on a month long ticket blitz there and ticket every single car that does not comply with the yellow/red lights, do that for a month and it will stop.
There are always cops there, but they give zero f*cks if you ignore them. I walk past them daily as they tell me to wait for the light.
Charles 1/8, 11:15
Let me get this straight – cops tell you to wait for the light. But you decide to cross anyway and proceed to accuse the cops of (let’s keep this a family paper) ‘not caring’, because they haven’t given you a ticket.
Wow…
I would love for anyone who enters an intersection against the light (or without room to make it to the other side for that matter) to be ticketed but how does this apply to this instance?
The officer’s report says the “livery cab was traveling north bound on Broadway approaching West 96th street with a green traffic signal”.
Drivers need to be held to the law but the UWS is the “World Capital of Walking Blithely into an Intersection Against the Walk/Don’t Walk Signal.
Are jaywalkers killing drivers? I haven’t heard of any. But sure, let’s target them lol.
How did the officer determine that the light was green? By talking to the driver, of course. Not exactly a reliable source.
I have three kids and live in this neighborhood. I drive my car through this intersection daily. My experience is the main problem after the changes are pedestrians. There is a green arrow for the turning cars to make a left. Once the light turns red for the traffic going north the pedestrians don’t realize the arrow turns green. They don’t wait for the walk sign to change. The pedestrians constantly cross against the walk sign and block the turning traffic. It is extremely dangerous. Take it from a driver- after 5pm at night it is very difficult to see pedestrians crossing against the light. Don’t do it! If you are crossing with the light still look in every direction before crossing. I speak only in general and have no knowledge of the most recent tragedy. Sending prayers to the family of the latest victim of this deadly intersection.
i cross this street daily to catch the subway to work and back. The lights are much clearer than they used to be. Bottom line is that sometimes people look for an excuse when it was clearly the child’s fault. The light was green and the kid tried to cross and was hit. I keep seeing people daily trying to cross when they don’t have the right of way. If you do that, caveat emptor.
Thoughts and prayers to this 10-year-old girl.
I wish the sergeant’s description included how fast the cab driver was traveling up Broadway, and what color the light was when the cab entered the intersection – it was green? Red? Late yellow? I just feel like this information would be useful for the public to know. I also wish all the city’s taxicabs had dashcams.
Thank you West Side Rag for covering this, and thank you to the first responders, NYPD and FDNY.
READ the precincts comments:
The cab had the right of way.
“cab was traveling north bound on Broadway approaching West 96th street with a GREEN traffic signal. The 10 year old pedestrian attempted to cross from the South East corner of 96 street to the center island of the roadway.”
Thank you Robert, I did read them. The precinct’s comments don’t include the taxi’s speed. Approaching the intersection with a green does not mean the cab entered the intersection with a green. I see cabs blow straight through reds all the time, apparently because the light looked green a few seconds earlier. That’s why I asked for the info. There’s no need to insult my intelligence. NYPD’s slogan is courtesy, professionalism, respect; right?
Also, the cops usually only take statements from the drivers that have struck someone, so OF COURSE they’re going to say they had the green or the right of way or whatever. The cops need to more thoroughly investigate these collisions. There have been numerous instances in the city where the police take the driver at their word but witnesses and even video evidence comes out later that completely disproves those accounts. Not saying pedestrians are never at fault, just that the cops tend to automatically assume they are.
Often it’s not the vehicles……..it’s the idiots who continue their jay walking russian roulette………End results, not pretty.
67% of pedestrians struck are crossing in the crosswalk with the light.
No one is concerned about those pedestrians who take their lives in their own hands. What people are concerned about, are drivers who take others’ lives in their hands by texting and speeding – and the 24th precinct does diddly squat about it.
What about all the drivers speeding through yellow and even red lights? Or completely ignoring pedestrians while turning? Pedestrians have A LOT more to lose when taking chances. Drivers have thousands of pounds of metal and constantly bully pedestrians with it. And of course the driver is going to say they had the green when the cop asks them.
Thoughts and prayers to the child.
I’ve written this before, here and to the NYC traffic department. I’ll write it again. The reason the left hand turn on northbound Bdway is to allow pedestrians to cross N/S between the Bdway islands. NOBODY ever crosses that way. All traffic is E/W from the subway entrance. End the staggered left turn light on Broadway heading northbound and these incidents will stop.
They need to reopen the subway entrances on the corners. That island is too close to the sidewalk, and it is too tempting to dash across to get to it against the light!
Huge, huge mistake to build that island.
That idea was raised at CB7 meeting with the DOT and cannot be done, at least without spending another x milion dollars to completely undo the entire renovation. They never should have moved the entrances to the median, it was idiotic, but apparently not fixable now. Ridiculous.
Dave, you need to file a Citizen Complaint by calling 311.
I did in order for the fire department to move their emergency truck from blocking the view of the crosswalk at 66th and Amsterdam. You get very fast results by filing the complaint.
Miles – I actually cross N/S between the islands all the time.
The big problem here is that left turn. People assume that once the light turns red, the walk signal will immediately follow, but SURPRISE actually what follows is the green arrow. It is unique among lights in the city, so people are walking ahead of the signal as a matter of habit – you can’t change this instinct! I find myself doing it by accident from time to time even though I know that intersection very well. Almost every day I see people stepping out in front of cars there and I have also put my arms out to prevent people from doing just that. PLEASE CHANGE THE ARROW!!
The 24 tried a ped and car ticket blitz at this location, several times. When they wrote tickets for people J walking through the intersection the NIMBY howls went up far and wide. It was the “its the cars fault” mantra. You had people J walking through the intersection with headphones on and/or looking at their phones. The best ones were when a parents was doing this with a child on one hand and pushing a stroller, while having head phones on. When the got a ticket they harangued the cops for giving them a ticket. Maybe a still from the traffic camera at the location ( yes there is one there)should be sent to ACS about these parents daily endangering their children.
Sadly this same time of activity is going on today.
The NY Post had a lot of coverage of the dangerous pedestrian actions at this location, in only one hour they clocked over 265 J walkers at the 96/Bway intersection, so pls don’t tell me its just cars fault. There is blame enough to go around. The 24 just doesn’t have the manpower to have a bunch of officers there 24/7. And the traffic agents are useless they spend more time talking on the N/W corner than doing anything else. When they are actually in the intersection they are more a hindrance than a help.
Pls, lets put the intersection back the way it was 15-10 years ago and leave it alone. Yes there were accidents then as well, but they are still happening and we have spent large amounts of money repeated with no success. The two little brick bump outs on the north island 6×8 cost over $365,000.
The 24th precinct tackled, handcuffed, and bloodied an 84-year-old non-English speaker for jaywalking. He is suing the city – us taxpayers – for $5 million. This was extensively covered in the U.S. and internationally, a massive black eye for the department, extremely expensive for the city, and it’s a little misleading to leave it out now and blame this on NIMBYs.
When an 84-year-old who jaywalked is treated more harshly by police than, say, a cabdriver who ran over a 9-year-old boy, people like me are going to gradually hope for a fresh take on NYPD’s approach to Vision Zero. We have to come together on this, I think.
“Bottom line is that sometimes people look for an excuse when it was clearly the child’s fault.”
When a child is hit by a driver, it is never the child’s fault. Blame street design, blame the driver, blame a culture that values motorist convenience above all else, even life and limb. But it is never the child’s fault. Ever.
Anyone who seriously believes otherwise should read Peter Norton’s “Fighting Traffic” for some perspective.
While I am in full agreement that children do not have the judgment to be held responsible for their actions in any criminal way, and also that it is clearly a tragedy when a child pays with health, life or limb for an error, I disagree that a child cannot be at “fault” in the sense of making a decision that causes a problem. Perhaps this child was too young to be out on her own, if she was, or perhaps she wasn’t being watched closely enough, if she wasn’t, but a child of 10 can indeed be at fault in the sense of being the one to take an action that causes a problem.
If you really think 10-year-olds shouldn’t be allowed to walk in NYC unattended, read “Fighting Traffic.” You might change your mind.
Walking does not cause problems any more than sitting causes problems. Unforgiving infrastructure and speeding, inattentive drivers are the issue.
I cross that intersection all the time. Pedestrians are constantly ignoring the”Don’t Walk” sign that allows traffic to turn. Maybe I’m there on wrong days but I never see traffic wardens at that intersection of Broadway. As the article states multiple pedestrians were struck and killed in that area last year. I sincerely hope the young lady is alright and will recover soon.
Was the livery cab in the left-turn lane? This detailed report would be more useful with this information. I cross from SE corner Bway/96 several times a week, and there are ALWAYS pedestrians who cross when the light is still against pedestrians to allow time for cars to make that turn. It is a long wait, and often there are no cars in the left-turn lane. The fairly recent system is confusing to pedestrians, and many just choose to take a chance.
I agree with Dave too. When pedestrians see the two main lights turn red they think it is okay to cross. Sometimes the vehicles who want to make a left turn don’t have a chance to because of all the pedestrians who are blocking their lane. This is a particularly dangerous corner in a very dangerous area. I am so sorry for the young lady and her family. I hope that she recovers fully.
As a west side mom raising young pedestrians , I taught my kids to cross above or below the major cross streets . The logical solution for protection of life and limb at the 96 th street subway station is creating entrances in the sidewalks north and south just like every other stop on the 1/2/3 line. Seniors were waiting for the elevators in the 96th station for years ~~ sadly accessing then is akin to crossing the River Styx.
As a west side mom raising young pedestrians , I taught my kids to cross above or below the major cross streets . The logical solution for protection of life and limb at the 96 th street subway station is creating entrances in the sidewalks north and south just like every other Broadway station on the 1/2/3 line. Seniors were waiting for the elevators in the 96th station for years ~~ sadly accessing them is akin to crossing the River Styx.
I regularly make this left turn from NB Broadway onto WB 96 in my car. Pedestrians not only cross before they have the “walk” sign, but they stand waiting in the left turn lane while cars cross through the intersection heading north. While I fault the pedestrians for not following the rules, I also believe the arrow timing must be changed. It’s good to see that the commenters did not all resort to the usual “blame the driver” position.
Another issue with this intersection is the lack of a street light on the NW corner. If you are turning left into west bound 96 at not you encounter bright car headlights (brighter than usual as they are stopped on a grade and therefor pointed higher than normal). This makes it very hard to see pedestrians crossing south on the west side of the intersection.
I have two young children who cross this intersection daily. We are constantly reminding them of the dangers and looking for strategies to reduce the risks. Let’s hope the child who was injured recovers quickly and fully.
I think sometimes we forget, whether we like it or not, PEDESTRIANS HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY AT ALL TIMES. It’s up to that ton of steel and it’s driver to be aware of it’s surroundings and avoid pedestrians no matter who has the freaking light! Is it ok to kill a kid just because you have the green?!! For God’s sake, just drive RESPONSIBLY and nobody gets hurt. Goodnight.
Here are the NYS Right of Way rules. Please refer to them prior to making statements that pedestrians always have the right of way.
https://www.safeny.ny.gov/peds-ndx.htm
Pedestrians DO NOT have the right-of-way at all times. Using public spaces properly is a shared responsibility.
It must be fun to make up your own rules.
The “right of way” does not mean you have the right to kill them if you could have seen them (by taking your eyes off your cellphone, A/C system, and car radio), and stopped in time (assuming you obey the speeding laws – most don’t).
Yet, there’s never and investigation of whether or not the driver was speeding or didn’t make an effort to stop. If the driver had the “right of way” then case closed – no matter what he was doing. That’s wrong.
I pass that corner almost every day and it is a bottleneck of pedestrians and cars/trucks. Traffic routinely backs up on broadway north to 100th st and on 96th from the highway back to broadway as cars wait to turn. The new changes on West End haven’t helped this. Neither have the trucks unloading in front of West Side Market and Walgreen’s that double-park as a rule. It is a very busy intersection and needs at very least a traffic cop at every corner during rush hours
Traffic wardens need to be at the intersection at all times. Pedestrians just aren’t getting it. I understand the controversy with the elderly gentlemen, but we need to start ticketing pedestrians again as well with a sign that clearly states “Jaywalkers Will Be Ticketed” and perhaps a large sign listing how many accidents have occurred there. I know how popular this suggestion is. New Yorkers have always jaywalked, a practice not permitted in other cities, but maybe we need to change our behavior in 2015 a city that is more congested with drivers & walkers.
Since the subway entrances were moved to the middle of Broadway, there now are a thousand or so more people
now crossing Broadway daily. This will only get worse.