“New York City motorists have killed at least six people walking and biking in the last eight days, and seriously injured several more. Last night a driver hit a couple on Main Street in Flushing, critically injuring both victims. On Tuesday a 3-year-old boy was hospitalized when a driver struck him with an SUV in Jackson Heights. A driver injured two people on a sidewalk in Borough Park early this morning. Last Thursday a driver hit a couple as they crossed the street in Borough Park, critically injuring 62-year-old Shimon Zelig Schenfeld. No charges were reported filed in any of those cases.”

What a list. Just terrible. One would think that a mayor who ran on Vision Zero would at least issue a statement about this.

It’s bizarre. You can be ticketed for things like not having a license or (rarely) running a red light. But there is no punishment for the actual killing.

Imagine if we dealt with bank robberies that way? “Do you have a license for that gun? No? Oh, then you’re in trouble for that. The actual robbery – not so much.”

Before we jump to conclusions about the unlicensed truck driver….

1. There are different “kinds” of unlicensed drivers. Was this driver some kid who didn’t know how to drive a truck? Or someone whose commercial license expired last month and forgot to renew it? That makes a big difference in the court of law.

2. Was the truck being driven in a careless or reckless manner?

Let’s go after obvious reckless driving, like the crazy unlicensed car driver
speeding 50mph in the Bronx and killing people on the sidewalk.

> Many lives could be saved if motor vehicles had to come to a
> complete stop before making a turn.

3. This was an 18-wheeler, it almost certainly did come to a complete or almost-complete stop. 18-wheelers take a LONG time to turn right. The biker was probably trying to pass it on the right, with predictable and tragic consequences. These kinds of accidents are preventable. But bikers (of which I am one) need to know how to prevent them, and take precautions. Unfortunately, I’ve seen far too many bikers who are almost certainly licensed drivers, but who seem to forget all rules and principles of the road once they get on a bike.

From Newsday: A tractor trailer driver from Miller Place was arrested and charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, driving while ability impaired by drugs and a number of traffic infractions after he struck and killed a female bicyclist Wednesday morning in Maspeth, Queens, police said.

Looks like there is plenty of reason to start judging the driver currently.

I was speaking to the idea that the cyclist is at fault because the truck stopped, which seems to be a faulty assumption on OP’s part. Without a stop sign it is certain the truck did not stop.