Friday’s Headlines: Repeat Offender Edition
The biggest story yesterday — not that anyone but the Daily News covered it — was that the very same truck that a driver used to kill a Queens crossing guard last year was involved in a new fatal crash on Thursday in Brooklyn.
As the paper reported, the same truck whose driver killed the crossing guard Krystyna Naprawa on Oct. 20, 2023, was involved in a crash at Tilden and Bedford avenues in Brooklyn after the truck driver made what witnesses said was an illegal right on red.
There was a lot of missing information in the narrative — including, of course, who was driving the truck on Thursday, as well as the name of the victim — but this much is known: the truck belongs to Manolos Trucking, a company that has some explaining to do. (Update: The victim was Maria Piovanetti, 68, who lived nearby on Tilden Avenue. We’ll be starting our Friday at her address, where we’re likely to find family members who will be outraged that the same truck has been involved in two fatal crashes.)
But also left unsaid (for now) is what punishment the company faced for its driving having killed Naprawa and how a company with a fatality on its record could possibly have another driver involved in a crash. What role, if any, did our Department of Motor Vehicles play in making sure Manolos Trucking properly trains its drivers? Why does the truck in question have seven camera violations (including four red-light violations) since 2019?
And, finally, what are our elected officials going to do about this — starting today? We’ll be asking.
In other news from a day that looked slow to the mainstream press, but was busy on our end:
- Transit union boss John Samuelsen’s break with congestion pricing is complete, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out (again!) that his workers will benefit the most from tolling drivers to improve subway service. (NY Post)
- The Times did a big story about where people are buying electric vehicles (but for some reason left out the most popular electric vehicle — e-bikes).
- People aren’t liking National Guardsmen with machine guns in the subway. (NY Times, Gothamist, Hell Gate)
- New Jersey residents have had plenty to say about congestion pricing … but if you want to comment on Gov. Phil Murphy’s 15-percent NJ Transit fare hike, good luck! (Gothamist)
- Streetsblog posted several big stories:
- Cyclists are crashing on the Queensboro Bridge because the city has provided too little space.
- The Department of Environmental Protection is not living up to its name when it comes to vehicles that idle.
- The mayor is lying about clean air and congestion.
- One great open street is in peril and another is trimming its hours in a cash crunch.
- Another community board has joined the daylighting push.
We never rest. Have a great weekend.
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