Carnage

Upper West Side Pedestrians Injured in Two Crashes on Same Block

We received word from a reader that a pedestrian was hit at W. 71st and Broadway at around 8:15 last night. NYPD said the victim was transported to Cornell Hospital in critical condition. A department spokesperson told Streetsblog "no criminality" was suspected and that the investigation is ongoing.

By Brad Aaron

12:01 PM EDT on June 15, 2010

Between 1995 and 2005, there were over 100 pedestrian and cyclist injuries where Broadway and Amsterdam meet at 71st Street, according to Transportation Alternatives’ Crashstat. One block north, three pedestrians were killed during the same period — one on Amsterdam and two on Broadway. Image: Google Maps

We received word from a reader that a pedestrian was hit at W. 71st and Broadway at around 8:15 last night. NYPD said the victim was transported to Cornell Hospital in critical condition. A department spokesperson told Streetsblog “no criminality” was suspected and that the investigation is ongoing.

FDNY confirmed a second Upper West Side collision yesterday. At approximately 5:14 p.m. a male believed to be in his 20s was struck, “possibly” by a yellow cab, at W. 70th and Amsterdam. The victim was taken to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt. His condition is unknown.

The history of violence on these streets shows the urgent need to extend the new infrastructure planned for Columbus Avenue up and down the wide avenues of the Upper West Side. Bringing bike lanes and pedestrian islands to Broadway and Amsterdam would go a long way toward reducing the frequency of driver-on-pedestrian violence and making the neighborhood safer for the vast majority of street users.

Brad Aaron

Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York's dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.