The awful carnage continued early Sunday morning at 96th street and Broadway when a pedestrian was hit and killed after being hit by multiple vehicles. This is the third death in a two-block radius in the past week and a half.
Police said the call came in at 4:45 a.m. They found an unconscious and unresponsive 26-year-old woman with trauma to her body on 96th street between Broadway and West End Avenue.
The woman had apparently been trying to cross 96th mid-block between West End and Broadway when she was clipped by the driver’s side mirror of an ambulance traveling Westbound. The ambulance was not on the way to a job, an NYPD spokesman tells us. After falling face down into the Eastbound lane, the woman was hit by a Dodge Charger sedan traveling East.
Both vehicles remained at the scene.
She was pronounced DOA at the scene by EMS. The investigation is ongoing.
Update: The woman has been identified as Samantha Lee, an anesthesiology resident at Columbia University Medical Center. She lived in the area and had recently graduated from UC San Diego Medical School, according to reports.
Photo courtesy of Glenn Schuck of 1010 Wins.
You don’t cross mid block.
These incidents are all tragic but we should note that cars are not the only problem. pedestrian inattention is also a big problem. The man killed at 96 and B’way was “J” walking from the subway island to the other. And in this case-The woman had apparently been trying to cross 96th mid-block between West End and Broadway
Occasional accidents are just that– accidents. However, the near-daily car accidents with pedestrians call for a serious change. What can we do for an increase in safety at 96th? Maybe slow down cars and make them more aware by having police direct traffic? I really don’t know.
Ever since the young boy was hit with his father, I have become increasingly aware of drivers in NYC. With them regularly running lights and ignoring pedestrians, it’s pretty easy to be nearly hit by terrible drivers every day.
I was in Munich, Germany a few months ago & when my friend suggested riding bikes to dinner, I thought she was insane. Bikes in a big city I was not familiar with?!?! At night!?!?! But every single time I stopped for a car, it turned out they were stopping for me to have the right of way. Even cabs! Can you imagine?!?! Pedestrians & bike riders, the most unprotected people on the street, having the right of way? It was safe and beautiful.
Side note, unrelated to driving: everyone has nice bikes parked on thes street in Munich. And they don’t get stolen!! Can we work on that, DeBlasio?
Through personal observation, there is no question in my mind that the number of vehicles blowing through intersections at high speed as the light is turning from yellow to red is out of control(particularly at the intersections of Broadway & 96th,86th and 79th) and should be the target of enforcement.
There is however a pedestrian issue as well – with many people crossing against Don’t Walk signs. This practice, when combined with the aggressive driving noted above, is a recipe for disaster. There is a particular danger at W96th and Broadway where a left turn arrow permits Broadway southbound traffic to turn left (east) before the northbound Broadway traffic resumes. As I watched yesterday over half a dozen traffic light cycles, pedestrians are routinely seeing a red light for the stopped eastbound/westbound W96th Street vehicle flow and crossing W96th between the northeast and southeast corners of Broadway and W96th – AGAINST A DON’T WALK SIGN. The pedestrians do not realize that it says Don’t Walk for a reason and that southbound Broadway traffic still has a GREEN left turn arrow. The vehicles make the left turn from Broadway to W96 – sometimes at high speed – and are confronted with a crosswalk full of pedestrians who are crossing West 96th against a Don’t Walk sign. This happened 100% of the time as I watched at least 6 light change cycles Saturday afternoon at around 3PM. Pedestrians – if the sign says Don’t Walk – then don’t walk – the vehicle traffic is coming from unexpected directions.
The city needs to redesign these streets to calm traffic. I routinely observe motorists speeding, running red lights, and not yielding to pedestrians when turning. Multi-lane roads with vehicles traveling at 30+ mph are inappropriate for densely-populated, residential neighborhoods.
Until the streets are redesigned, it would be nice to see some traffic enforcement. I have never seen a vehicle pulled over for speeding on the UWS>
Very sad. Interesting how people on here say that you shouldn’t jay walk or walk across the street mid block (Which I totally agree with precisely because the chances getting hit are greater) but when I said in a previous post about how people shouldn’t hang out in the park at 3 in the morning because something happening is greater at that hour, people jumped all down my throat that I was blaming the victim. Hmmmm…Hypocritical at best.
These deaths are tragic but can hardly be deemed “carnage”. “The awful carnage continued early Sunday morning at 96th street and Broadway when a pedestrian was hit and killed after being hit by multiple vehicles. This is the third death in a two-block radius in the past week and a half.”
A string of day/night visible switchable visual markers embedded in the pavement should visually display the path of oncoming traffic, simply, at intersections. Each site of an accident should have a day/night visible graphic design marker of doom also embedded in the pavement, to warn both drivers and pedestrians of problem areas. We place electric shock warning graphics on transformers, so why not at much more dangerous traffic traps?
Oh wow, this is so tragic to read. My heart goes out to the family who has lost a daughter here.
The community board transportation committee had a study commissioned last summer which recommended many changes to make these blocks and intersections safer for pedestrians, and remove conflicts with cars… it’s online here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mancb7/downloads/pdf/Traffic%20Survey_initial.pdf
With thanks to the voices on the community board who have fought for pedestrian safety, here’s hoping that DOT can put these improvements in effect within days, if not hours. How many more lives must we lose?
Didn’t know when I wrote this, that the community board had called for this Friday. Thank heaven. But very, very disturbing that NYPD, who still haven’t arrested the driver who killed Cooper Stock, apparently set up a jaywalking sting, and beat and arrested an elderly man there this afternoon.
The intersection of 96th and broadway is a mess. I live several blocks form there and have to cross all the time. Putting the subway station in the middle only exacerbates the problem. Also, as mentioned above the left turn arrows, not visible to the pedestrians who cross against the light are a tacet invitation to disaster. Why not put up signs TELLING the pedestrians that they’re in the way of cross-flow? It’s an already very unsatisfactory situation that will not improve. How many more deaths do there have to be? Granted this woman was not crossing one of 4 ways at the intersection but still. I’m amazed there haven’t been more pedestrians hurt/killed at this giant messy intersection. The desgners made it without account for human traffic and impatience at having to get at the subway entrance ill-placed. I preferred having to use those tunnels in the station when the entrances were on the SE and SW corners . Since going back to that plan is never going to happen, we’re left with improving QUICKLY the situation for the pedestrians by EDUCATION. Railings along the sides? Like in the 42 St. area?
Pedestrian education is important, and enforcement is too. However, better design and infrastructure are, by far, the most important factors affecting the number of these kinds of incidents and their severity.
The problem with 96st and Broadway its not the traffic or the Pedestrian. The problem is the infrastructure of the city and United States it self. If you go to London,Tokyo or Paris most traffic lights stop like 10 or 15 seconds early so people can cross before the car go its way. And they need to start educating NYPD traffic people because most of them just scream at you compared to once when i went to Paris the traffic guy was nice and very helpful and they even cross the street for old people.
The Daily News just ran an article on someone getting arrested for jaywalking today on the same corner:
https://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/theshack/2014/01/cops-getting-aggressive-on-jaywalking-on-uws
::SIGH::
Just a quick note having just come through 96 and B’way.
There are already signs on each corner and on both islands reminding people to only cross in crosswalks, they have been there long before this resent spate of accidents.
Pedestrian education and enforcement are not the problem, pedestrian inattentiveness is. We need to be much more aware of our surroundings, take the ear buds out, stop texting or talking on the phone as you cross and even if you have the light remember that you will always end up on the losing end if a car hits you. Cars can not stop on a dime so if it says don’t walk or is already blinking that way-wait for the next light.
Most importantly look around before you cross, especially if you have kids etc.
I agree with you 100%
I am sorry to hear this. I came through 96th & Broadway & wondered what happened about noon. All of these car related deaths are disheartening but as a driver I find pedestrians to be to trusting as what drivers will do. They jaywalk, walk between cars at the corners & disregard the walk/don’t walk signs. Most of the time don’t look to even see what’s going on. I experience this constantly but just try to my best ability to stay vigilant of their behavior. I don’t know I could live with myself if I hit & killed or even hurt a pedestrian while driving
i do not know the circumstances of this incident, but i do know that at 4:45 am, most new yorkers will cross whenever and wherever they want.
new york has always been a city of pedestrians and except for a short while (while i have lived here) has been tolerant of j-walkers. even most drivers accommodate j-walkers.
go ahead, chase down j-walkers, but i want to see sting operations for scofflaw drivers who disobey traffic signals as well!
by the way, the first ever pedestrian fatality in the usa occurred at 74th and central park west; Henry Bliss died there in 1899.
Very sad to hear, although it sounds like she was jaywalking or crossing the street illegally, and that is not necessarily unique to West 96th St. – just a horrid coincidence. Whenever a pedestrian jaywalks, they take their life in their hands. Unfortunately she gambled, and lost.
However, the new turning light at the intersection of 96th and Broadway needs to be changed. Dozens of near-accidents happen every time that light changes. Pedestrians just don’t heed the lights and the walk/don’t walk signs. It was a good intention to help the flow of traffic turning there, but in reality a terrible idea with poor execution. Maybe they should put fencing in, like around Radio City Music Hall, so the crossing doesn’t actually happen at the intersection but quite a few feet past it? Sounds like the police overdid it with this poor fellow.
FYI folks here are the law section numbers, see section B of 1151 and section a of section 1152
It is also illegal in New York to step off a curb the moment the light starts blinking red. But it is rarely enforced and
even when it is, the fine is $50.
§ 1151. Pedestrians’ right of way in crosswalks. (a) When
traffic-control signals are not in place or not in operation the driver
of a vehicle shall yield the right of way, slowing down or stopping if
need be to so yield, to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a
crosswalk on the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling, except
that any pedestrian crossing a roadway at a point where a pedestrian
tunnel or overpass has been provided shall yield the right of way to all
vehicles.
(b) No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety
and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is
impractical for the driver to yield.
(c) Whenever any vehicle is stopped at a marked crosswalk or at any
unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to permit a pedestrian to cross
the roadway, the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear
shall not overtake and pass such stopped vehicle.
§ 1152. Crossing at other than crosswalks. (a) Every pedestrian
crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or
within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right of
way to all vehicles upon the roadway.
(b) Any pedestrian crossing a roadway at a point where a pedestrian
tunnel or overhead pedestrian crossing has been provided shall yield the
right of way to all vehicles upon the roadway.
(c) No pedestrian shall cross a roadway intersection diagonally unless
authorized by official traffic-control devices; and, when authorized to
cross diagonally, pedestrians shall cross only in accordance with the
official traffic-control devices pertaining to such crossing movements.
This is terrible! However, pedestrians in this city walk in the street like they hvae no regard for their own life. It’s absolutely shocking. Have you ever seen a mother on a cell phone jay walking with a baby stroller? This is the kind of crazy behavior i see every day.