BICYCLIST HIT BY VAN DRIVER ON WEST END AVENUE
Posted on May 26, 2015 at 4:09 pm by West Sider
A bicyclist was hit by a van on West End Avenue and 71st street on Tuesday shortly before 2 p.m. and transported to St. Luke’s Hospital. The woman who sent us the photos above and below says that the van driver appeared to have hit the cyclist after making a left turn onto West End Avenue. It’s not clear what direction the cyclist was heading.
Our tipster says another crash occurred about eight months ago at the same intersection when a vehicle making a left hit a pedestrian. She has “brought concern to DOT in past .. no luck.” Much of West End was redesigned last year by the Department of Transportation, but not the area below 72nd street.
The FDNY said the person was in stable condition. We’re awaiting more information from NYPD.
There is one way to reduce pedestrian accidents that usually occur when cars make a turn and the pedestrian is preoccupied. Make all commercial vehicles make a loud beeping sounds when the turn single is on, just as when reversing. It will create a heck of a racket but it is efective.
Do you want to live on that corner?
Naro, I can honestly say that I’ve never, ever heard of a more ridiculous idea than yours.
So if an elderly pedestrian is crossing and the truck comes and starts beeping like an asshole, she should jump out of the way, huh? Driver: Not my problem, I beeped!
Also, ban deaf people from walking the streets?
Or people “voluntarily” deafened by having their ears plugged up with earbuds or headphones?
How about those too busy to look up from thumbing their phones? If they’re not going to look up for the already-careening traffic, what makes you think they’ll bother just because of honking?
I agree: The honking thing is not the way to fix uncontrolled traffic.
I’m going to have nightmares about your “beeping” turn signal idea. Don’t we have enough hell on earth?
Haven’t lived in NYC very long, have you?
Why do you assume that the bicyclist and pedestrians don’t pay attention? TEveryone, especially the drivers, needs to pay attention.
The intersection at 72nd and West End is also out of control. I will often go out of my way to cross West End on a different block just to avoid the motorists making left turns. Some traffic enforcement (for speeding and failure to yield to pedestrians) and traffic calming measures would certainly be appreciated.
wait till the Citibikes are installed on the corner of 72nd and Riverside and the new lane change that nobody bothers to read the sign above this constant beeping all day long beeping beeping beeping people trying to get on the highway but they can’t because they’re in the wrong lane
PUNCTUATION, m’dear!
Ever hear of that little teensy PERIOD between sentences…and Upper-Case letters to begin a sentence??
e.e. cummings you’re NOT!
Punctuate, punctuate, punctuate !!
congestion pricing. Please.
That’s for 59th St & below. For UWS, the solution is metered parking on streets (not just avenues), and on WEA.
Not a surprise… Cars rarely pay any attention to speed limits, pedestrians, or cyclists in this area of west end avenue, stretching down to 59th street. There are also cars and delivery trucks routinely doubleparked in the street blocking traffic. Oh and the ridiculous number of drivers pulling illegal u turns and making turns without heeding crosswalks or cyclists. It is long since time for the nypd to start seriously enforcing traffic rules in this area instead of leaving it as the Wild West. there are close calls on a daily basis…
Agreed. There is no traffic law enforcement on the Upper West Side. Until there is, all drivers know that they can do as they please.
And, count on it, they will.
I have a better idea. How about drivers pay attention to what is in front of them and not speed, text, talk on the phone, eat. In addition how about having red light and speeding cameras and removing drivers from the road who have had more than two license suspensions. I bet in this case these solutions would have prevented this from happening. The pedestrian is always at a disadvantage.
If a vehicle hits a pedestrian in the crosswalk of the street into which the driver is turning then he has violated the pedestrian’s right of way unless there is a four way do not walk setting on that intersection as there is on Amsterdam and 81st street.
Bicyclists seem to consider themselves a special category of vehicle driver since they routinely drive the wrong way on one way streets and treat traffic signals and signs as opportunities to exercise judgement rather than as mandates.
A little police action ticketing drivers for all the infractions I see everyday would go a long way, I think. Drivers are so obviously going faster than 25 mph, and the number of cars that make left turns from Broadway against the red light is alarming.
WEA south of 72nd street is chaos. Between the speeding cars trying to avoid traffic on the west side highway, massive construction in the 60s and illegal trucks north of 57th street, this happens all the time. In the 60s cars blow through lights literally every time they turn red. This is a residential neighborhood with 2500 new apartments being built right now and no fewer than 5 schools on WEA. The neighborhood is on the southern border of the 20th precinct so enforcement is nonexistent. Though they manage to come by hourly to write parking tickets. What is it going to take for the city council and mayor to do something about this?