DOT: 1,382 Pedestrians and Cyclists Injured, 19 Killed in November

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Helen Marszalek, Floria Burton, Luisa Rosario, and Rukhsana Khan

Twenty-five people died in New York City traffic in November, and 4,466 were injured, according to DOT’s Vision Zero View crash data map.

As of the end of November, DOT reported 131 pedestrians and cyclists killed by city motorists this year, and 13,705 injured, compared to 146 deaths and 13,563 injuries for the same period in 2014.

Citywide, at least 19 pedestrians were fatally struck by drivers last month. Among the victims were Leila Enukasvili, Mitchel Darroux, Carol Bell, Floria Burton, Agalia Gounaris, Luisa Rosario, Charles Kinyeti, Helen Marszalek, Sofiya Ostrovskaya, John Saldiran, Rukhsana Khan, Yvette Molina, Liana Platika, Bella Markowitz, an unnamed female pedestrian in Manhattan, and three unnamed male pedestrians in Queens.

Motorists killed at least 10 seniors in November: Mitchel Darroux. 72; Carol Bell, 70; Agalia Gounaris, 84; Luisa Rosario, 88; Helen Marszalek, 70; Sofiya Ostrovskaya, 66; Liana Platika, 84; Bella Markowitz, 85; the unnamed female pedestrian in Manhattan, 86; and an unnamed male pedestrian in Queens, 68.

DOT reported no cyclist deaths in November.

Across the city, 1,031 pedestrians and 351 cyclists were reported hurt in collisions with motor vehicles. Per NYPD policy, few of these crashes were investigated by trained officers.

Of 18 fatal crashes on surface streets reported by Streetsblog and other outlets, one motorist was known to have been charged criminally for causing a death: Michael McBean was charged with manslaughter and leaving the scene for the crash that killed Yvette Molina, in Brooklyn.

Leila Enukasvili, Carol Bell, and Rukhsana Khan were killed by MTA bus drivers. Enukasvili and Bell were struck in crosswalks by bus drivers making turns, and witnesses said the driver who hit Khan was speeding. The driver who killed Carol Bell was charged with leaving the scene. No charges were reported filed for the crashes that killed Enukasvili and Khan.

The speeding driver who flipped a car on a Brooklyn sidewalk, killing Charles Kinyeti, was charged with unlicensed driving and endangering a child passenger — both misdemeanors — but was not charged for taking Kinyeti’s life.

Floria Burton was pushing a laundry cart in front of a dump truck that was blocking the crosswalk when the driver accelerated into her. Despite the driver’s admission that he drove forward without looking, NYPD and the press blamed Burton. No charges were filed.

Luisa Rosario was killed by a yellow cab driver who had been on the job 16 hours. The driver was charged with a Right of Way Law violation.

Agalia Gounaris, 84, was run over by several drivers, all of whom kept going. No arrests were reported. The driver who hit John Saldiran was charged with misdemeanor aggravated unlicensed operation, but was not charged for causing a death. Sofiya Ostrovskaya was struck by a hit-and-run driver who was not immediately caught or identified. Liana Platika was killed by the operator of a private garbage truck who left the scene. The driver was not charged.

Historically, nearly half of motorists who kill a New York City pedestrian or cyclist do not receive so much as a citation for careless driving.

Six motor vehicle occupants died in the city in November, according to DOT, and 3,084 were injured.

  • camp6ell

    back up to pre-vision zero numbers… has the bubble burst?

  • Philip McManus

    Dear Friends,
    Vision Zero is a big mistake. We must educate and enforce the rules of the road to all commuters. You can’t punish one group of commuters and not the other. I’ve live in this city and I see how people who walk and ride bikes risk their lives and constantly break the law. Vision Zero will never work without all commuters working to together for a safer and faster commute. Imagine how transportation deserts will get more isolated, separated and divided with Vision Zero, Select Bus Service and QueensWay, slower speed limits, empty bus and bike lanes, reduced capacity on our roadways, less left turns, less bus stops, less transportation options in the outer boroughs. We need to expand our transportation system with more buses, trains, ferries, roadways, railways including the QueensRail, the Montaulk line, and Triboro RX. We need to open our roadways for all commuters.
    Join our group the Queens Public Transit Committee.
    Philip McManus
    PhilAMcManus@gmail.com
    718-679-5309

    Queens Public Transit Committee
    http://www.qptc.org
    Phil@qptc.org

    Queens Public Transit Committee
    Faster and safer transportation will create more social, economic, recreational, and environmental opportunities.

    Facebook:
    Rockaway Beach Rail Line
    Queens Public Transit
    Rockaway Beach Branch

    Twitter:
    Rockaway Beach Line

    Websites:
    Rockaway Branch Line blog
    Rockaway Branch Line Mission Statement
    Queens Public Transit

  • Kwyjibo

    Sickening.

  • R

    I don’t think you know what Vision Zero is.

  • What a load of absolute nonsense.

  • BBnet3000

    LOL, people against improving bus service are also against road safety improvements, the primary beneficiary of which has been people in cars.

  • bolwerk

    It’s a bit hard to take a transit advocacy group seriously when the ground-level activism of said group is stopping a major transit improvement. QueensWay is dumb, but you’re ostracizing most of the people who could get behind rail reactivation with your crap.

  • Andrew

    They’re a transit advocacy group in name only.

  • neroden

    Well, when the attitude of the NYPD is “murder a pedestrian, hey, we all do it”, I think we haven’t even started to try to implement Vision Zero.

    We need a new vision. Vision Zero Out The NYPD. It’s so rotten it can’t be fixed even by Preet Bharara. Fire everyone and start over with a real police department. Call it “PDNY”, perhaps.

  • Eric Darcman

    Back up to? Vision zero has had mimimal impact on the number of pedestrian deaths!

  • Eric Darcman

    Whoa! I am surprised this post was allowed to stay up! Not exactly the the nutty stuff i am use to reading here!

  • Eric Darcman

    The author of this piece doesn’t seem to have any sense of context! The numbers of people injured or killed by vehicles sound high until you compared it to the number of people who live in New York City! 8.3 million people live in NYC and another 2M commute into the city to work or play daily. As the author admits out of those 10 million 131 pedestrians have been killed in traffic accidents through November, hardly what i would call out of control! The mayor was a fool when he went around promising to reduce traffic fatalities to zero, even in Sweden where he got this Vision Zero nonsense they haven’t been able to get it to zero.

  • Alexander Vucelic

    nice satire – really funny sarcasm highlighting the Fallacy of drivers saying ‘only 33,000 People were Killed this year, that’s a trivial Number’

  • Maggie

    If you agree that crashing into pedestrians is preventable (don’t speed, look where you’re going and yield in crosswalks, don’t drive under the influence), then these monthly injury and death numbers are enormous, preventable human losses, impacting families at random across NYC, and they’re way too high.

  • qrt145

    If you want a sense of context, why don’t you compare the numbers with London, which is similar in population to NYC and yet has about half the pedestrian fatality rate?

  • Eric Darcman

    Everything is preventable! If you look at life that way you will never be able to actually live it!

  • Eric Darcman

    Don’t believe I ever used the word trivial! All I am saying is life will never be perfect, death is part of life! No amount of government regulation is going to change that! Every death is tragic but 33K out of a population of 320M is a low number!

  • Maggie

    That kind of illogical copout is ridiculous. Twenty pedestrians died on New York City sidewalks this year. I still walk on the sidewalks and cross the street, but by no means are these EXTREMELY PREVENTABLE deaths acceptable – to the surviving families or to those who follow the issue. Activism and awareness are crucial to changing the local culture, improving designs and increasing enforcement, and creating a better city.

  • Joe R.

    131 people killed due to other people getting around in cars is not remotely acceptable. For years we as a society accepted an enormous death toll just so people can get around by motor vehicle. We’re finally starting to realize accepting this as just the cost of doing business is perverse. After all, there are many other proven, much safer ways to travel. Dying getting from point A to point B is just about the most useless, pointless way anyone can die. There should be zero deaths associated with transportation.

  • Joe R.

    It’s actually about ten times that number once you count the deaths from air pollution caused by motor vehicles. That puts motor vehicle use as the third highest cause of death behind heart attacks and cancer (although arguable a fair number of those heart attacks and cancers are caused by motor vehicles).

  • Eric Darcman

    You are what most would call a Do-Gooder and that is your right! However every time I run into someone like you I remember that old saying about the road to hell!

  • Alexander Vucelic

    Joe,

    it is profound to realize that the car Maniacs actually believe its reasonable that convience is worth killing 33,000 Americans every year

  • Alexander Vucelic

    cars kill

  • Alexander Vucelic

    just eliminate their patrol cars and make them walk a beat. The entire attitude would change quickly

  • ahwr

    A fair number of these deaths occurred on sidewalks and in stores

    To quantify that, ~4.7% of pedestrian deaths, 3.7% of pedestrian KSI 2002-2006. It probably seems a lot higher, because the crashes are more shocking and so get more attention.

    Dying getting from point A to point B is just about the most useless, pointless way anyone can die. There should be zero deaths associated with transportation.

    the brain-dead idea fostered in the mid 20th century that everyone should be able to drive.

    Before cars city streets were a dangerous place.

    https://books.google.com/books?id=wkVRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA492#v=onepage&q&f=false

    Once you understand that the ideal of safe travel you want has never existed in a city it becomes easier to understand why wide access to automobiles was acceptable. Once a critical mass of cars existed owning one offered great benefits. Restricting those benefits was a hard sell when people were dying in transportation anyway. Even when rail was a viable option, there’s the issue of price. Shrinking railroads in the 50s had legacy costs that GM and the automakers didn’t face until decades later.

  • Maggie

    Okay, what about this. Senior citizens are about 17% of the city population, but 10 of the 19 pedestrians who died were age 65 or older. Seniors are disproportionately vulnerable to this epidemic!

    A driver on a revoked license, with a 3-year-old in his car, flipped onto a sidewalk and crushed a stranger. He hasn’t been charged with manslaughter or reckless driving. And Bratton hasn’t spoken publicly about this threat to everyday New Yorkers.

  • Eric Darcman

    There is no epidemic! Your taking the exception and making it out to be the rule!

  • Eric Darcman

    So do planes and trains! Do you want to ban those modes of transport also?

  • Morris Zapp

    Deaths on planes and trains are so rare because when a crash occurs we respond by investigating the cause and taking action to prevent the next catastrophe.

    Your argument against doing the same for auto crashes makes no sense at all. That you seem so personally offended makes me suspect you are one of the entitled, reckless motorists the anti-traffic violence movement aims to rein in.

    If the discussion here bothers you so much, you are free to go away.

  • Alexander Vucelic

    we need to recognize 33,000 Americans Killed each year Is abnormal.

    No One Is talking about banning Motor vehicles; just eliminating subsidies for mass Motoring.

    If thenaubsidues were eliminated, people would still own and use cars.

  • Joe R.

    Besides eliminating subsidies, we also need to increase licensing standards to ensure anyone driving a motor vehicle can safely do so. My wild guess is by doing that, about 80% of the population will never be able to drive because they’ll lack the senses, reflexes, cognitive abilities, or proper attitude. Of the remaining 20%, some large percentage would be unable to afford to drive once subsidies are eliminated. Overall doing these things wouldn’t ban motor vehicles, but I would say 90% to 95% of the population would no longer be driving. Most of those remaining would likely be commercial drivers.

  • Alexander Vucelic

    Joe,

    indeed a 3 way approach to stop the killing:

    1) Eliminate subsidies

    2) real Standards for opetating a dangerous weapon on public streets

    3) Real accountability for killer drivers

  • Eric Darcman

    So basically you want to crash the auto industry? An industry which one out of every seven jobs in this country is connected to?

  • Eric Darcman

    Listening to you is like listening to pro-lifers who go around calling abortion doctors “Baby Killers”! Eliminating subsidies? Everyone subsidizes everyone else to some degree that is how the costs of goods and services are kept within reach of the average person. Drivers get subsidies but people riding mass transit get far more.

  • Brad Aaron

    “Death is part of life” is an archaic and absurd response to preventable suffering and loss. Following your line of reasoning, why treat the sick when we’re all going to die anyway?

    Car crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teenagers, and the leading cause of injury death for children in NYC. Many reasonable people, including public health officials, find this significant.

    Other forms of transportation don’t kill tens of thousands and seriously injure millions every year, thanks to measures the people on this forum wish to see applied to auto travel. It’s not that hard to understand.

    Since you think it’s nutty to approach traffic violence and its victims with seriousness and respect, your presence here does nothing to advance the conversation.

    Your Streetsblog commenting privileges are revoked.

  • Joe R.

    And you don’t think in a world where most people don’t own cars there would be huge industries building, maintaining, and operating public transit vehicles? Not to mention the money not spent on cars would be spent on something else. That something else would provide jobs.

    Your line of thinking reminds me of what happened when autos replaced horses. Some people were crying about the loss of horse-shoeing jobs, stables, and so forth. The economy survived. It would survive a world where most people don’t own private automobiles.

  • Joe R.

    Yes, I agree you need to look at it in the context of the times. People died in far greater numbers back then for all reasons. Something like 3% of the world’s population died in WWII alone. Had those chances of dying due to war continued, a person would have had a 1/3 chance or greater of dying in their lifetime just from war alone. That said, in the years since we’ve made great strides in developed countries eliminating preventable causes of death like war, famine, disease, and so forth. In today’s context the idea of continuing to allow widespread private auto use in making less and less sense. We’ve had 75 years of hindsight seeing the negative effects private autos cause, particularly in urban areas. Public policy should begin to reflect this.

  • Alexander Vucelic

    your argument is we Need to kill 33,000 americans each year in traffic violence to protect Car making jobs

  • neroden

    33,000 Americans die each year due to reckless driving.

    Pretty much nobody dies in plane or train crashes. I think it’s less than a dozen total this year for planes and trains put together.

    There’s something wrong with the way we’re dealing with driving. I personally agree with Joe R: the problem is that we have no licensing standards. We let totally incompetent people drive. Routinely. It has to stop.

    We do not let incompetent people fly planes or drive trains. We revoke their licenses the first time they crash, and often revoke their licenses if they even violate one law.

    But dangerous killer drivers can violate hundreds of traffic laws, kill multiple people, and still have a drivers’ license. This HAS TO STOP.

  • neroden

    Actually, it’s a very high number. Basically nobody dies in planes or trains, but thousands are massacred by reckless car drivers. We should do something about it.

  • neroden

    Agreed.

  • Andrew

    Everything is preventable! If you look at life that way you will never be able to actually live it!

    That’s an acceptable attitude when it comes to taking risks with your own life. It’s absolutely unacceptable the moment you’re proposing to impose risks on other people’s lives.

  • ahwr

    It’s actually about ten times that number once you count the deaths from air pollution caused by motor vehicles.

    No, it isn’t.

    http://lae.mit.edu/air-pollution-causes-200000-early-deaths-each-year-in-the-u-s/

    ~53k deaths from road transportation emissions in 2005. ~43k deaths in crashes that year. Not 10x.

    http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/general-statistics/fatalityfacts/overview-of-fatality-facts

  • Alexander Vucelic

    96,000 Americans Killed by drivers Every year ! tragic

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