Wednesday’s Headlines: Literally Nowhere is Safe from Car Drivers Edition

At the end of the day, the dailies won't cover it, but two people — two! — were injured in separate crashes over the weekend in New York City's own little Mayberry: Roosevelt Island.

Yes, the idyllic community with basically one road and a 15-mile-per-hour speed limit experienced two serious, injury-causing crashes over the weekend, as reported by Roosevelt Islander.

The first incident was on Saturday at around 10:30 p.m. when the 49-year-old driver of a 2019 Chevrolet struck a 33-year-old female pedestrian as she crossed Main Street. In that case, the driver was issued a failure to yield summons.

The next day at around 2:2o p.m., another pedestrian — this time an 88-year-old woman in a crosswalk — was struck on Main Street by a 24-year-old male driving a 2021 Toyota. He also was issued a summons.

Both victims were taken to the hospital and their conditions are unclear. But what is clear is this: no one is safe from car drivers, not even in the quietest part of town. (Not so quiet, as it turns out: Since January, 2020, there have been 12 reported crashes on Roosevelt Island — injuring three pedestrians and three motorists, according to city stats.

Obviously, death and carnage are the traveling companions of pedestrians all over town, too — a 6-year-old girl was run down and killed in Dyker Heights last night, too. In this case, cops did not initially charge the driver, the Daily News reported. The Post also covered. Neither paper pointed out that in tiny Community Board 10, which includes Dyker Heights, there were 673 reported crashes between Jan. 1 and July 31 of this year, roughly three per day, injuring 42
cyclists, 43 pedestrians and 201 motorists. One pedestrian was killed, too. Now it's two.

In other news (besides the fact that we have a new governor!):

• Very sad news for fans of old tyme transit, but Bob Diamond, who discovered what is believed to be the oldest subway tunnel, has died. The Brooklyn Paper broke it, but the Daily News followed). In an unrelated, but no-less-sad story, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts also died. (NYDN)
• Speaking of the Brooklyn Paper, the outlet's ace reporter Ben Verde reported that an effort is underway to save the Grand Prospect Hall and make all our dreams come true.
• There's a Ferris wheel in Times Square for a few weeks! (NYDN) Of course, it's in the bike lane. What else did you expect:

• Like Streetsblog, amNY's politics site covered advocates' push to know where Kathy Hochul really stands on congestion pricing.
• David Meyer of the New York Post tweeted a bizarre subway finding on Tuesday. How would you headline this? We'll go first: "THAT'S NUTS!" (OK, peanuts aren't nuts but legumes, so let's go with "Shell Shocked.")

• Two "sustainable tourism" advocates wrote an op-ed in the Daily News that carriage horses should be replaced by electric cars in Central Park. No. Central Park is car-free and it needs to remain that way. The op-ed was later eviscerated by Nicole Gelinas in a solid take: