A for-hire driver in an Uber cab injured a cyclist on the Hudson River Greenway last week.
Adam White, an attorney who represents traffic crash victims, came upon the scene at around 6 p.m. last Thursday. The cab driver was turning right from West Street onto Liberty Street when he hit the cyclist with a Toyota SUV.
White said the victim, a young man, was unconscious when EMTs fitted him with a neck brace and placed him in an ambulance. “It did not look good,” White said.
The NYPD public information office sent us a "he said-he said" account of how the crash occurred, with the driver blaming the victim.
"[T]here was a vehicle and bicycle accident where the driver of a [livery] car states he was making a right turn onto Liberty Street when the bicyclist came out of nowhere and [hit] his car," NYPD said via email. "The bicyclist stated he was going straight on a green light when he got struck by [the] car."
While police have yet to assign fault, both accounts support the conclusion that the driver violated the cyclist's right of way. There is no dedicated signal for drivers making right turns from West onto Liberty, which means turning motorists are required to yield to people walking and biking across the intersection.
NYPD did not send the Collision Investigation Squad to the scene, so it's unlikely police conducted a full-scale crash investigation. White said there were many cops on the scene, but they didn't seem to be investigating the collision.
NYPD told us there were "no serious injuries." But the FDNY press office said the victim was unconscious and was transported to Bellevue Hospital in serious condition. “The guy was motionless with his eyes closed,” said White. “It was pretty disturbing.”
The cab is licensed to Uber base Funfzehn. Though Uber dominates the ride-hail market in NYC, the city does not track crashes that involve Uber drivers.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission provided no information about the crash or the driver, referring us to NYPD. Unless police file charges, in all likelihood this driver will face no TLC penalties.
Collisions caused by drivers turning across the Hudson River Greenway can be deadly. Last year 30-year-old cyclist Olga Cook was killed by an allegedly drunk driver who made a right turn across the greenway at Chambers Street. Police refused to investigate when a bus driver hospitalized a greenway cyclist in Hell’s Kitchen in 2014, saying the crash was “clearly an accident.” In 2006 an NYPD tow truck driver who failed to yield struck and killed Carl Henry Nacht as he and his wife Mary Beth Kelly rode their bikes on the greenway at W. 38th Street.
