Photo by Ben Lerman.
One person was injured after a car flipped on West End Avenue late Sunday morning.
The crash occurred around 11:30 a.m. in front of 675 West End Avenue between 92nd and 93rd Streets, according to an FDNY spokesman. The injured person was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital under respiratory or cardiac arrest. No other injuries were reported.
Police had few details and a spokesman said the Collision Investigation Squad did not arrive on the scene, indicating the person who was injured was not considered likely to die.
Photo by Benjamin Kanter.
I was there immediately after. Apparently the car was out of control and hit several parked cars before flipping. The car was totaled, flattened, but apparently airbags and, I assume, seatbelt saved the driver. It took a while to extract him (or her – I didn’t see the driver). We in the upper 80’s-low 90’s WEA area– have had two major fires and this in a very short space of time. Less than a week I think.
Was it a car service? Uber, etc.?
I think it was a blue Ford Escape
Must have been one of those new driver-less cars, judging from the news account.
Yup. Reporters and police treat this as some random event, like rain falling, and not a result of someone driving way too fast.
It’s pretty amazing that NYPD doesn’t investigate and attempt to charge people driving in such a way that they flip a car unless they kill or almost kill someome.
They just shrug.
Look, if NYPD doesn’t have manpower for those investigations, fine. They should advocate for more budget for that. But the real reason is they don’t care. Which is wrong.
Since WEA was reorganized it has been a disaster. People have been killed. Bicyclists cut in and in front of cars more than ever–they are given a lane and take advantage of using the whole street. Cars drive faster, thus the many accidents documented. Thisi is a residential area and should be marked as such. There are schools and children jplaying. From 86th-96th should be designated as a quiet –careful area. We had such a beautiful low-key area. I am sad to say, after 40 years of living here, I grimace every day to the noise and number of fire engines, ambulances and rennovation noise. Aren’t there alternate routes for some of these disturbances. We love our neighborbood but let’s restore it’s lovliness.
Hard to figure how a cyclist cutting in and out of traffic could cause a vehicle to flip over.
Easy. If you are travelling at 65mph down WEA and a cyclist moves around a double parked car in the extra wide parking lane, you must take evasive action and flip your car!
Now get off my lawn!
West End Ave. remains one of the quietest streets in Manhattan. Maybe it is slightly louder and more crowded now than it used to be, but it is still very quiet and safe. If you don’t like it, I can find some farmland upstate to sell you and I’m sure there would be many people happy to have your apartment.
What bike lane is there on WEA? Also, doesn’t having schools and kids playing mean we should have more bike lanes? Bike lanes help reduce traffic and speeding, not increase it. If you are blaming speeding and car crashes on bike lanes, you are living on your own planet. How can you read an article about a reckless driver crashing, and blame bikes for that?
Half of what you say needs to be discounted for either inaccuracy or triviality. Designate it as a quiet – careful area?
Where on West End Avenue were bicyclists given a lane? What law doesn’t allow bicyclists to ride in a vehicular lane just as other vehicles do?
Lorraine – what is that based on? People are complaining that with one lane, cars are going slower, which in my book is a good thing, as that ought to make it safer. And where were bicyclists given a lane? I suppose there’s more space between parked cars and the one lane for moving traffic, but it’s certainly not the typical marked cyclist lane like on CPW, and obviously not a protected lane like Amsterdam and Columbus. And with the little islands in the middle in a few places to stop drivers from cutting across lanes that aren’t theirs, I think WEA is a lot safer than it was, say, three years ago. So…
Frankly, I don’t see that many cyclists riding on WEA. The issue, from my experience, is a confluence of the new layout and the advent of ride-sharing/taxi services (Uber, Lyft etc). The new layout with the turing lanes has effectively removed a driving lane, and because there are more cars making stops to pick up or drop passengers, it creates nasty traffic, and forces impatient drivers into making bad driving decisions.
Soory, I must disagree. Drive on WEA on Sunday evening around 7:30. Bike food delivery, completely out of control. No attention to lines or direction, and traffic lights completely ignored.
It’s a “disaster” says you with zero evidence.
How many more Upper West Siders have to be killed or maimed before the powerful do something? It’s not just the upper 80s-90s, there have been plenty of innocent neighbors crushed on WEA in the 70s, which is the race course for delivery bikers free to speed against traffic, through crosswalks and red lights, and along sidewalks where we pedestrians seem to be in their way. Can’t our taxes and votes provide some law enforcement to prevent these tragedies?
Every avenue and street does not require or need a bike lane. Just as cars cannot traverse Times Square and other pedestrian plazas, and commercial vehicles are not allowed on West End (can we make a citizen’s arrest?), perhaps there are already enough avenues and streets that have bike lanes.
Let’s discuss the current enforcement of cyclists by the police:
do you hear the sound of crickets chirping?
That’s because there is no enforcement.
By a show of hands, how many of you have seen cyclists go through red lights or disobey other traffic signals and signs, not use bike lanes where bike lanes exist, ride in the opposite direct of the flow of traffic, etc? I have seen all of it.
And I am not referring to delivery people – I am referring to regular folk who are just out for a ride, taking their kids to school, etc
Maybe the only cyclist that has been cited is the one who killed a pedestrian in Central Park (and no I have no proff or “alternative facts”).
In any event, the news story had nothing to do with bikes, but since someone brought it up, I am giving my opinion.
The cyclist in Central Park was not cited. If I remember correctly, after a thorough investigation, the police had corroborated evidence that she was jaywalking.
maybe if you stepped away from the computer and actually got on a bike you’d have some perspective about bikes vs cars vs pedestrians. It might also put a smile on your face!
My perspective is as a pedestrian, a bike owner r, and a car owner. So please don’t talk to me about perspective (or don’t talk to me at all)
If you don’t want people to “talk to you” then don’t post.
the “vision zero” pedestrian crossing changes have meant big safety improvements at many of the intersections i regularly cross: WEA and 95th, Bway and 96th (all directions), Bway and 94th, Bway intersections above 96th (97th, 98th, etc).
the island in the middle of the street on WEA and 95th really improves safety, as do the various extended pedestrian zones attached to the Bway island.
these were all areas that had multiple accidents and even fatalities prior to the changes.
nothing can totally eliminate accidents but these are common sense improvements. thank you NYC DOT and Mayor De Blasio.
No bicyclists cut the car off and the driver wasn’t speeding intentionality he had a seizure.