Today’s Headlines

  • Times: Next Mayor Should Expand Bus Service and Bike Lanes; NYT Maps Bloomberg’s NYC
  • Pedestrian Killed by Motorcyclist in Washington Heights (DNA, WABC)
  • Teen Seriously Hurt by Motorist in Prospect Heights (Post); Cop Struck in Queens Hit-and-Run (News)
  • Queensboro Reopened After Truck Fire Paralyzes East Side Vehicle Traffic, Damages Bridge (WABC)
  • 18-Year-Old Motorcyclist Kills Self in Greenpoint (DNA); Driver Splits Car in Two in Woodside (WABC)
  • Jackson Heights Cyclist Found Mortally Injured on Henry Hudson Drive in NJ (Times Ledger, Epoch)
  • Quinn Says MTA Should Subsidize Ferry Service During G Train Repairs (NY1)
  • Queens’ First and Only Bike Train Is Looking for Members (DNA)
  • Times, News, and Post Endorse Stringer (NYT)
  • The NYT’s Favorite Antisocial Cyclist Hater Sneaks a Few Puffs as the World Passes Him By

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

  • Ian Turner

    That Woodside crash is another “pedal misapplication error”. How is this possible?

  • krstrois

    Gary Taustine did not just compare the value of some people’s lives to the ease at which other people might open a car door. Way to go NYT for printing that POS.

  • Reader

    In what other world would the times publish someone complaining about the inconvenience of saving a few lives?

    “Guns that misfire can hurt children, so now, once again inconveniencing the many to appease the few, we have trigger locks.”

    If the Times weren’t desperate for page views, this sentiment should earn Gary Taustine a place on a permanent Metropolitan Diary blacklist.

  • Clarke

    Poor Bloomberg…the 7 Line Extension doesn’t even get mentioned in the NYT maps piece.

  • Anonymous

    Humans have been known to screw up sometimes.

  • Joe R.

    That’s more than a screw up. How fast exactly does one need to go in order to break a car in half? I think it’s safe to say somewhere north of twice the 30 mph limit.

  • Kevin Love

    Which is why I support the Dutch “Sustainable Safety” policy. Human beings make mistakes. Concrete never makes mistakes. Concrete never gets tired, distracted or aggressive. That’s why I want concrete protecting me from car drivers.

  • Joe R.

    My favorite was the complaint about sliding doors. I think sliding doors are something car users would welcome with open arms. They would mean an end to door dings in parking lots for starters. Of course, his complaint boils down to something totally ridiculous like “clunky”. I guess even if it saves lives we can’t have it if it means auto users have to expend a few calories more.

    And the smoking part. Ugh. I was he was standing next to my sister. Anyone puffing away near her risks serious bodily harm.

  • Anonymous

    My point was about the pedal misapplication. Even highly trained people sometimes get inexplicably confused and flick the wrong switch, push the wrong pedal, etc. I bet that everyone who ever made a pedal misapplication error would have sworn the day before that it would never happen to them.

    That’s why design should to try to account for the inevitability of human error as much as possible. (Like Kevin Love said.)

  • Joe R.

    I agree but assuming you’re driving at or under the speed limit before a pedal misapplication occurs, notice your error within a second or so, then remove your foot from the pedal, you’ll be going at most maybe 45 mph (i.e. few cars gain more than 15 mph of speed in one second). 45 mph won’t break a car in half. When cars look like that, usually it’s indicative of some serious speed which is the result of more than a pedal application error. In fact, that picture reminds me of the “Porsche girl” incident (do a Google search if you don’t know what I’m talking about). In that incident the car was driven at about 100 mph into a toll booth. I wouldn’t doubt it if similar speeds were involved here.

  • Joe Enoch

    My response to the times:

    Gary Taustine’s nostalgic diary entry represents a time in New York
    I’m happy to have never witnessed. He waxes on about the progress this
    city has made that “once again inconvenienc(es) the many to appease the
    few.” To drive his point home, he complains about how dreadful it is
    that his cab now has a sliding door instead of a swinging door which can
    harm bicyclists — and other vehicles. In his entry he claims to be the
    envy of other taxi passengers since Tuastine’s driver allows him to
    blatantly break the law and smoke in his cab. I wonder what the next
    passenger thought about that. Talk about inconveniencing others!

    Mr. Taustine’s paranoid, smoke-blurred vision of a time gone by only proves how much progress this city has made.

  • Bolwerk

    I would guess the Times doesn’t give a crap about transit. I’d really love to know why someone found this comment objectionable though.

    The BBC ran an article comparing the powers of Bloomberg with the mayors of London and Paris. Where do they say the mayor of New York is powerless? “Transport.”

  • krstrois

    Are we to believe that Gary Taustine buys his cigs IN the city? No, only a right proper hayseed would miss an opportunity to screw the mayor out of several dollars with regular internet purchasing. That 14.75 grievance does strike the right tone, though, doesn’t it?

  • Anonymous

    Yes, people can screw up, but when a legitimate screwup is added to other not-so-innocent behavior (like speeding recklessly), tragedy results. Suspect that’s what happened here.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, I’ve made that error before. You know what? You notice it right away, and you quickly move your foot from the accelerator to the brake.

    On the other hand, if you were already distracted, going too fast for the circumstances, and start to run off the road, and THEN attempt to slam on your brakes and instead hit the gas pedal, well, that’s when you might break a car in half.