Photo by Brian David.
Two crashes on the West side Tuesday resulted in people being taken to the hospital.
The first occurred around 5:30 a.m. on 58th street and 9th avenue when a garbage truck going south collided with a delivery truck, sending a sanitation worker and the delivery truck driver to the hospital. The people were transported to the hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries, FDNY told us.
”The delivery truck stopped to make a delivery — some milk or something — then the garbage truck just smashed into it from behind,” said Rasoul Mohammad, 52, a food cart vendor who witnessed the crash to DNAinfo.
The second crash occurred around 3:20 p.m. when a vehicle hit a pedestrian at 76th street and Broadway. FDNY said one person was taken to Lenox Hill hospital in stable condition. NYPD didn’t have further information.”There was major fdny activity and a man being secured to a flat stretcher on the ground next to partition in the middle of Broadway,” said our tipster.
In March, the 20th precinct issued only 10 speeding tickets and 12 tickets for failure to yield to pedestrian. And this after “stepping up” enforcement? It’s quite an outrage considering how frequently these offenses occur every 60 seconds. The lax enforcement over the years has encouraged drivers to treat the avenues in our neighborhood as highways, instead of the neighborhood streets that they are. I see drivers honking obnoxiously at seniors who were unable to finish crossing before the light changed to “don’t walk”, and I see turning motorist pushing their way in front of everyone including parents with strollers.
If you want to voice your concern, please attend the Community Council meeting at the 20th Precinct house at 7:00 PM on the 4th Monday of each month. Next meeting is April 28th, 2014.
You say, “In March, the 20th precinct issued only 10 speeding tickets and 12 tickets for failure to yield to pedestrian. And this after “stepping up” enforcement? It’s quite an outrage considering how frequently these offenses occur every 60 seconds.” But you are mixing apples and oranges.
It may be that the 20th Precinct issued only that number of tickets for those offenses. However, those offenses don’t occur “every 60 seconds” WITHIN THE 20TH PRECINCT, which is what your comment implies. They may occur every 60 seconds IN THE ENTIRE CITY. But the 20th Precinct is not responsible for the entire City; only for the area bounded by 59th, 86th, RSD and CPW.
Why is this newsworthy to me any more than a drug overdose or a heart attack or the numerous hospital infections that kill a stranger? There’s a Grace Jones song that starts with a proper sense of perspective here:
The sun comes swaggering across the harbor,
And kisses the lady waiting in the narrows,
She already plenty shaky stands there,
Blushing, clutching the torch of liberty,
Uptown luigi who don’t speak english so good,
Is having an accident,
Backing his dumptruck into the fence,
The tin cans go clattering down the lane,
A drowsy bum thinks it’s thunder,
And pulls the news over his head to stop the rain.
No, it ain’t judgement day,
No, it ain’t armageddon,
It’s just the apple stretching and yawning, just morning.
New york putting it’s feet on the floor,
I love the song lyrics, Nik, but the article is newsworthy and important. Drivers are so distracted that pedestrians are foolish to assume that they are safe when the light is in their favor. I can’t tell you how different the driving culture is from what it was just a few years ago. Not long ago I had a bad feeling about the person driving the car near the intersection I was crossing. I hesitated even though I, a pedestrian, had the right of way. Sure enough, that driver went right through a red light — this was WEA and 102nd Street — and I saw that she was on the phone. Drivers continually cut off pedestrians, too. Mr. White is right. It’s an outrage. To me, the truck incident sounds like an accident, pure and simple, yet it’s vital to alert pedestrians to the dangers involved in simply crossing the street. That said, I want to add my voice to those who say that many pedestrians are clueless about their environments as they text as they walk, having no idea what is happening around them.
But thanks for the lovely lyrics. Really.
I commend you on your use of the word “crash” instead of “accident.” This is a small step in taking these incidents seriously and viewing them as preventable rather than dismissing them as unavoidable, which we’ve been doing for decades.
I never, ever post any comments but I just can’t resist anymore. I’m both a driver and a pedestrian in the city and believe me when I tell you that when I drive, I see that most of the people ignore red lights. They jump in front of the cars all the time, they cross on the red light to save that millisecond of their precious time, even with strollers and kids in tow. In regards to older people, most of the time they think that every driver should wait for them to cross, even if they started crossing an intersection when the light on the the other side indicated they have only 1 second. For some reason, the commentators here blame only the drivers, but the pedestrian are at fault as much as the drivers. It’s not one sided as everyone likes to pretend it is.
Re: ” In regards to older people, most of the time they think that every driver should wait for them to cross, ….”
YES! AND WHY CAN’T DRIVERS WAIT? Are they first-responders racing to an emergency? Are they harried cab-drivers with a nasty impatient fare muttering in the back seat?? Is someone in their vehicle about to give birth???
Of course NOT! They’re just arrogant, nasty people who think that being inside the shell of their vehicle gives them some special immunity from common decency and the-whole-freakin-world-had-better-get-outta-their-way-because-they’re-so(SELF-)important!
Full Disclosure: I AM a “senior citizen” AND a user of a mobility scooter (hence my name) and, although I ALWAYS try to cross with the light, I take GLEEFUL PLEASURE in exercising my right to be in that cross-walk (while the light is in my favor) ESPECIALLY when someone is thwarted from making a turn and staring angrily at that guy-on-a-damned-crip-scoota…especially when Mr./Ms Nasty is at the wheel of a BMW, Lexus, etc.
Private cars and City Streets — A TERRIBLE MIX!
You know it’s the same with everything in life.
You would think past showes us at least anything, but that’s so rare.
Feel free to disagree but the world changes, and none of us have no control over it.
E.g., imagine Barack had any balls to put Putin to his place, but it seems like it’s never happening, welcome WW3.
A profound post, thanks!