i live on 102 directly to the east of the viaduct and cross under to get to the park almost everyday and it makes me nervous every time. sometimes ill walk from 98 up Lexington just to avoid this. when i get to the end of that tunnel i peek out before taking a step forward but even then cars coming across 102 turning onto park cannot see you when you are crossing. this does incident does not surprise me and quite frankly i am surprised this is not a more common occurrence. i have almost found it safer to walk on the middle tunnel on the street just so that cars going west on 102 can see me! there is a problem when walking on the street is safer than walking on the sidewalk. i feel safer in the projects at 2AM than in the crosswalk anytime

If you watch The Wire, that great documentary about police work, 🙂 you’ll see how the main purpose of a police department’s homicide division is not to prosecute murderers, but to close case files by whatever means necessary, including but not limited to ruling cases as suicides given the flimsiest excuse or dumping them on a different jurisdiction whenever possible.

The police’s attitude to this incident and the Citibike crash (for the update on which I’m very grateful) illustrate how desperately the incentives for NYPD traffic cops need to be revised. At present, I get the strong impression the emphasis is on volume of tickets issued, rather than anything else. Crashes of this kind – where both parties might have shared some of the blame or it might prove difficult to prove what happened – just seem to be too much trouble. It’s easier just to send a couple of cops out to bust cyclists for, say, riding on the northern part of the Hudson Greenway after 1am.

I wrote about the problem yesterday – and suggested it was time to switch to outcomes-based targets. Imagine the 23rd precinct commander’s pay depended in part on achieving a reduction in the numbers of deaths and serious injuries on his roads. I suggest his interest in the speed of northbound traffic on that section of Park Avenue would increase pretty quickly: http://invisiblevisibleman.blogspot.com/2013/06/citibikes-drivers-and-science-of-moral.html

Paul,

What do you suggest to do about this one?

Mirrors are a start.

I continue to be amazed that leaking blame-the-victim details about supposedly confidential crash investigations continues to be the routine policy of a police department that operates a far-flung multi-billion dollar anti-terrorist investigation program. What would Ray Kelly do if his anti-terror investigators leaked details about the cases they were working on? Why doesn’t PD understand the harm these leaks do to grieving families (let alone to the success of the supposed investigation) and make its officers stop?

Chicane, speed bump, rumble strips, and a warning sign: Poorly Designed Unsafe Intersection Ahead, Use Caution

Park Avenue should be channeled into one narrower lane with a much wider painted buffer between the wall of the viaduct and the traffic lane. I ride this street with my kids on the way to basketball games and agree this spot is very scary. Also, there is big police parking lot on the east side of Park here. Do the cops have to park on the sidewalk with ESU trucks and their private cars? Google Streetview shows the sidewalk parking. This is not courteous or professional or respectful and sends the message that pedestrians come last.

Check out the comments on a THEE RANT thread on the earlier Citibike-related crash:

http://theerant.yuku.com/topic/59398/Man-Hit-by-SUV-While-Riding-NYC-Bike-Share-Bike#.Ua0T-Ulj2PI

The rank and file in the NYPD need to be reminded just who it is they work for.

Mirrors. Unless someone wants to pay the millions to tear down/rebuild the viaduct.

Motivating the lazy to care, or simply work, is exactly what money is for. If it had no effect there would be no such thing as commissions. Or money.

I think it’s an interesting idea. My idea has been to progressively cut the general budget of the nypd until they stop treating the taxpaying public like lesser animals. But Robert’s targeted approach is better.

The issue isn’t asshole versus non-asshole. It’s whether they see it as their job to keep people safe from reckless drivers, and the comments make it very clear the NYPD rank and file does not regard it as part of their job.

OK this accident was told completely wrong i was actually there when this happen the driver was not going north bound on park ave we was going east bound on 108 st and made a left of park ave which gave the cyclist the green light to go across so he did so was in the right of way so the sedan wasn’t and that turn is actually a blind spot and alot of people still take the turn like its nothing ive seen it happen so many times that people almost get hit because stupid people go and ake the turn forgetting that people also cross so this was an preventable death but like i said alot of poeple are stupid and dont know how to remember that there are people crossing

Punctuation is your friend when it comes to other people being able to understand your writing.

Not everyone is a career blogger. I was just trying to explain the incident not looking for an English teacher thank you… 🙂

Sooooo tru

Eric McClure, Brent, NYFM, JK and Joe R all have the right idea to fix this stretch of road: remove the parking lane by the curb. Have the driving lane become curbside. Replace the travel lane by the median with a wide painted buffer. This would provide visibility. Without a street re-design such as this, those crossing Park Avenue can not see who is coming until they already walk/bike/drive out onto Park Avenue, and by then it is too late.

I am so sorry for your loss. This website (the reporters, the editors, the readers, the commentators) do their best to raise awareness of the street injustice that occurs on a regular basis throughout NYC. They do their best to put pressure on those in power (other media, politicians, NYPD, District Attorney) to hold drivers accountable and do true investigations and administer justice. It is depressing how little attention is paid to deaths caused by motorists outside of websites like streetsblog and a few others. I am sorry for your friend. You are right: there should be a full investigation of how fast each driver was going, if either ran a red light, if either was turning and failed to yield, if either was on a cell phone (illegal to be on a cell phone in NYC in a motor vehicle when it is in motion – even hands free cell phones are illegal if the car is in motion in NYC), if either was tired/distracted, if either was drunk/impaired, etc. Whether the cyclists was using earphones to listen to something is one tiny, tiny piece of the equation – not one of the main factors that need to be investigated. Write a letter to the head of the NYPD. Call your City council representative, call your public advocate, call the mayors’ office, call your NY State assembly and senate representatives in Albany, call your federal bouse and senate representatives in D.C. Do your best to get someone to pay attention to this injustice.

Keep It Simple Stupid. But hard to fudge dead bodies. It’s too easy to fudge the metrics for something like what amount of loss makes a case a mere misdemeanor rather than a felony.

But if the performance-based reward/penalty applied to every dead body — murders, accidents, vehicular mayhem, suicides, overdoses, whatever — then we’d have a powerful official interested in road safety, suicide prevention, addiction treatment, and lots of other good things.

agreed and could also add Leading Pedestrian Intervals so that pedestrians and by extension bicyclists could enter out in to the intersection before turn cars could.