An e-scooter delivery worker is dead after getting run over by the driver of a massive beer distribution truck in Queens on Thursday morning.
Police have released little about the 8:30 a.m. crash on Crescent Street near Astoria Boulevard, but say the driver of the Bud Light big rig struck and killed 35-year-old Alfredo Cabrera Liconia, who was riding an electric scooter while finishing up his shift making deliveries, according to reports. A police spokesperson, blaming the victim, said the driver made a right turn from Astoria Boulevard onto Crescent Street when Liconia "struck the passenger side" as he was heading straight on Astoria Boulevard.
"It just seems like an unfortunate accident," the spokesperson said.
Witnesses on the vigilante app Citizen say the victim was trapped under the 18-wheeler, though it is unclear if he was riding in the protected bike lane — but a video from the scene shows the truck's front wheels in the green paint, which, activists say, would be impossible if the lane was truly protected.
“We've tweeted @NYC_DOT for weeks that the protection & separation on the 2 way Crescent St bike lane is not enough & that someone will die. And now someone is dead. All because Commissioner Polly Trottenberg designs bike lanes for cars & trucks to drive in. Blood is on her hands," said Macartney Morris.
Fatal crash in Queen's Crescent Street bike path. Can we all agree that a bike lane isn't really "protected" if you can drive a tractor-trailer into it? We can't allow this to keep happening. https://t.co/L1IKkrZ3JC
And a Department of Transportation sign posted on the corner of Astoria Boulevard and Crescent Street forbids truckers from making a right turn onto Crescent Street, unless for a local delivery — which is what cops say the trucker did. The Crescent Street block is mostly residential and home to a church, so it's unclear if the driver was really making a local delivery.
The sign telling truckers they cannot make the right turn onto Crescent Street. Photo: GoogleThe sign telling truckers they cannot make the right turn onto Crescent Street. Photo: Google
Police say they did not issue the truck driver a summons or make any arrests.
For weeks, cyclists have been sounding the alarm about the two-way bike lane's lack of physical barriers to keep riders safe from speeding drivers. The Department of Transportation finished installing the pathway last month, adding bendable plastic bollards to discourage drivers from riding in the bike lane. But such flexiposts do not actually prevent cars and trucks from entering what is supposed to be protected space.
The Crescent Street bike lane is a major achievement.
Astoria can be a model of successful transit alternatives for all of NYC - but only if we make critical safety improvements.
Since its implementation, the bike lane has already had its fair share of problems — drivers have used it as a parking lot; motorists were directed to actually drive onto the green paint; and in one vile instance, one man spat on a cyclist in the bike lane as he tried to get around slower traffic near the Queensboro Bridge.
Advocates and local pols are again demanding DOT make the bike lane safer to truly protect riders like Liconia.
"For months, Astoria told DOT the bike lane isn't safe enough. Every day, cars blow past the flex-delineators designed for drivers to ignore," said Zohran Kwame Mamdani, the Assembly Member-elect for the 36th district, which represents Astoria. "...what is clear is that real barriers would have heavily disincentivized the truck from making such a turn in the first place. Commissioner Trottenberg (and Mayor de Blasio) are responsible for this city's transit policy that places convenience for cars over NYers' lives. Their offices are responsible for this death. NYC DOT must install real safety infrastructure now, before more of our neighbors are killed."
Yesterday, a delivery worker was crushed & killed under a truck in Astoria.
He wasn't just killed by reckless driving, but by @NYC_DOT's reckless policies that incentivized that behavior.
Their failure to protect our bike lanes endangers all Astorians - bikers & others alike. pic.twitter.com/ksDNOwFggP
Julianne Cuba joined Streetsblog in February, 2019, after three years covering local news and politics at The Brooklyn Paper. There, she also covered the notoriously reckless private carting industry and hit-and-runs. A 2015 graduate of Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism Master’s Program, she lives in Brooklyn. Julianne is on Twitter at @julcuba. Email Julianne at julianne@streetsblog.org
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