Cyclist Killed by Motorcyclist on Deadly Third Avenue in Brooklyn

Another cyclist, identified by the Daily News as a heroic frontline nurse, has been killed on Brooklyn’s deadly Third Avenue — this time run over by a motorcyclist.

According to police, the 31-year-old victim, Clara Kang, was on her bicycle and heading eastbound on 56th Street in Sunset Park at around 7:40 a.m. Saturday when a 29-year-old man who was operating a 2019 Suzuki GSZ-R motorcycle northbound on Third Avenue slammed into her. Both people were thrown from their two-wheeled vehicles and landed in the street, cops said.

Both were taken to NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn, where Kang died and the motorcyclist was being treated for head and body trauma and was in critical but stable condition.

The Daily News said Kang had been cycling home from. her night shift at the very hospital where she was taken after the crash.

The investigation is ongoing, police said.

What is also ongoing is the danger presented by wide, speedway-like Third Avenue. The city did reduce the speed limit on the roadway late last year from 30 to 25 miles per hour, but only after several cyclists had been killed. In 2019 alone, there were 532 total crashes, resulting in 191 total injuries, including 11 cyclists and 13 pedestrians, on Third Avenue between 20th Street and 58th Street, according to Crash Mapper.

The day before that announcement, activists had gathered to mourn Brendan Gill, a pedestrian who had been killed by a truck driver. Gill’s death followed the killings of cyclists Em Samolewicz in July and Hugo Garcia and Fernando Trejo, both in January.

So far this year, 19 cyclists have died in what has turned out to be a bloodier year for road violence, the result of an epidemic in speeding because of the decrease in overall car traffic, Streetsblog has reported.