Photo by Alex Silverman.
Several people were injured when a cab jumped the curb at 62nd street and Broadway and slammed into a hot dog cart around 4:30 p.m. Monday.
An Upper West Side hit-and-run has left several people injured, the NYPD says https://t.co/Q51x1bSun8 pic.twitter.com/IXRngh2fqf
— amNewYork (@amNewYork) May 9, 2016
NBC is reporting that six people were hurt, with one of them sustaining serious injuries.
A mother pushing a child in a wheelchair appears to have been the most severely injured victim. NY1 reported that the woman was in critical condition as of Monday night.
“Witnesses say a black or blue car started the chain-reaction crash when it slammed into the back of the yellow cab, which in turn hopped a curb and hit a food cart at the intersection. The food cart then tipped over and into a Con Ed work site where a utility van was parked. No utility workers were injured.
A woman who was pushing a child in a wheelchair was hit in the crash, and her arm was nearly severed, witnesses said. The child did not appear to be injured.”
Police were still investigating; it’s not clear yet if it’s been classified as a hit-and-run.
#BREAKING at least 3 injured after cab jumped curb, crashed into hot dog cart. #abc7ny pic.twitter.com/XGv8VR571z
— Josh Einiger (@JoshEiniger7) May 9, 2016
#BREAKING: per police source, cab was rear ended by black Honda which fled scene; PA plate KCN-0713 #abc7ny pic.twitter.com/FtKsUDG1TB
— Josh Einiger (@JoshEiniger7) May 9, 2016
#BREAKING cab vs food cart, 62 and bway. @ABC7NY pic.twitter.com/j1T9QGi2PO
— Josh Einiger (@JoshEiniger7) May 9, 2016
And people go on and on about bike lanes. This is the real danger, folks.
… it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyways… this could never have been caused by a cyclist.
Simple physics – my bike weights 25 lbs, a car weighs 4,000 lbs. There are bad cyclists, no doubt, but cars should be held to a much higher standard.
Yes Mark, most of us remember Newton’s second law from highschool physics.
The point I was trying to make (and I suspect you would agree) is that if a bicyclist would happen to be involved in some sort of collision the reaction here would be completely insane and out of proportion.
In contrast, after a very serious collision possibly involving a hit and run and an innocent bystander’s dismemberment of her arm and people are basically: “meh, all in a day”.
Standards as you say, should be upheld but why are people in general not faced by vehicular violence as much as they are by bicyclists running red lights. If an alien race were to judge us by our reactions to bicyclists and bike lanes we wouldn’t be able to fault them for thinking that bicyclists are psycopaths riding with chain saws tied to their bicycles and chopping people to pieces as they plow through crowds at intersections.
Why are there less than ten comments on this article but there were upwards of 100 comments on the article about bike lanes a couple months ago? Heck, there’s already some guy asking if WSR asked NYCDOT for the economic impact statement of the Amsterdam bike lane.
Zulu, I believe it is that people are defending the status quo. Change invites resistance.
(ref: Laws of Thermodynamics, see ‘Inertia and all that’)
Hi anon – the city tracks and publishes this with a long lag. Here’s the link.
https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/bikestats.shtml#crashdata
In 2014, there were 12 reported times over the year when cyclists injured pedestrians on the UWS.
Mixing time periods, in the 29 days of of February 2016, drivers were involved in 250 collisions on the UWS. 17 drivers, 5 passengers, 4 cyclists, and 13 pedestrians were injured.
Zach:
Although NYC drivers can be extremely aggressive, pedestrians observe that most of them do obey the law. They stop at red lights, signal their turns, slow down for pedestrians who are crossing and generally give pedestrians the right of way. Statistically, they rarely see an auto accident. This tends to give people a sense of security, a security that may be false, I grant you. In contrast, many pedestrians may see bike riders flouting traffic regulations, running red lights and behaving in ways that makes them feel unsafe in real time and on a daily basis. The statistics that you quote are not so convincing when you are crossing with the traffic light in your favor and are almost run down by a bike rider! I think that pedestrians would feel more secure and hence less critical when they see the majority of bike riders obeying the traffic rules and giving pedestrians the right of way.
Zulu, I don’t know how many injuries are caused by bikes. Do you? I doubt most accidents are reported. Who would you report it to? There is no way of identifying the cyclist, not plates, no license. What is the proper protocol if a cyclist injures a pedestrian or damages property?
Good point.
The fact is that automobiles and their drivers are held to a higher standard in the form of driving licenses,safety inspections,traffic regulations and legal penalties. Yes, this system has flaws and yes, there are bad and irresponsible drivers, such as the one who caused this horrible and tragic accident. In contrast, bike riding is essentially unregulated. Is it any wonder that bike riders have a bad reputation when pedestrians regularly see them riding through red lights, riding up one way streets in the wrong direction, riding on sidewalks or weaving dangerously through midtown traffic, cutting off cars and buses and not giving hand signals when they make turns or change lanes.
I understand everything you’re saying. What boggles my mind is the public’s reaction. Hundreds of New Yorkers are killed and injured by motorists every year but as a whole people accept it like it’s an ancillary cost of living in the city.
Then comes the bike, light, small, nimble and with a much smaller capacity to inflict harm upon others and people are loosing their minds over it.
Why? Why the disparity in reactions? Yes bikers run red lights, and go against traffic, and are not licensed and all that. But isn’t the proof in the pudding? How many deaths and injuries have cyclists caused compared to motorists?
BTW I’m not endorsing this behavior I’m legitimately curious for the reason behind the disparity in the public’s reaction.
“why are people in general not faced by vehicular violence as much as they are by bicyclists running red lights.”
^
Did you mean fazed?
Independent, most of us see bikes running red lights multiple times a day and don’t see cars breaking the laws with the same frequency. People are focused on the problems they see.
Yes, I meant fazed. Thanks for the correction.
Mark, what is your point? Nobody is defending a black car that rear ends a cab causing a chain reaction and multiple injuries. We can all agree that that is horrible. Many of us also think that bikes should be held to the standard of following the laws including riding in the direction of traffic and stopping for all red lights. While this accident wasn’t caused by a bike some bikes do cause accidents.
Except when we ask NYPD to enforce the law on drivers, preventing horrific catastrophes like this, they say they don’t have enough resources.
If you don’t believe me, ask NYPD 20 to write more than one speeding ticket a day and see what they tell you. Then ask how many tinted windows tickets they had the resources to write. Then ask yourself which is more dangerous.
If I thought NYPD 20 was doing a safety focused job enforcing the law, I would be thrilled. They wrote 2000+ moving violations over January through March. Thirty-four of those were speeding tickets.
I don’t understand how they sleep at night. Honestly. 23 tickets a day, and one speeding ticket every 72 hours? And then when the community asks you to do better, you blow them off?
Here’s the result. A woman my age who could lose her arm, and a driver who is comfortable speeding in the UWS because he rationally knows the chance of a ticket is next to zero.
Sorry if I sound angry… it’s because I’m angry! This has to change.
Margaret,
Are you replying to me? Again, nobody is defending the driver of this car. Nobody is saying that traffic laws shouldn’t be enforced. I’m not sure what your “Except” is in reference to.
That’s right had this accident been caused by a bicyclist the comment section would be 50+ deep in nastygrams and vitriol within a couple hours.
Unfortunately the windshield perspective is strong even amongst the non-drivers.
My best wishes to all the injured parties. I really hope they recover fully.
Traffic cameras and enforcement.
This is so horrible. Woman pushing a child in a wheelchair, and her arm was nearly severed?
Exact same corner where a turning driver killed a guy last year.
Wow. I used to get halal on the NW corner of 62nd and Bway. I saw exactly one cab accident during my entire childhood in NYC. Too many cars here. Too fast. Too many ubers/vias/whats-next…a vehicle Armageddon.