Tuesday’s Headlines: Carnage All Over Edition

Our lead story today by Sophia Lebowitz looks at motorized devices that are marketed as “e-bikes” but are actually illegal motorcycles. And they’re dangerous — the driver of one of them killed Terri Valenti earlier this month on Flushing Avenue.

That death was horrible. And it will take greater enforcement and education by the city to make sure something like that never happens again. We’re no friends to such devices — indeed, we think all vehicles on city streets should be capped at 20 miles per hour.

But Lebowitz’s deep dive on the threat of illegal motorbikes is a reminder that for all the fears that fast-moving two-wheeled vehicles stoke, the real menace remains cars. Yes, I know I sound like a broken record, but Monday’s news outlets were filled with the latest examples of why a transportation system that centers the car will always be one that also centers death:

• Nine people were injured by a driver in Midtown on Monday. (NY Times, NY Post, ABC7, Gothamist)
• Four teens were killed early Sunday in a head-on crash on the New Jersey Turnpike. (NYDN, NY Post)
• A driver flipped his car in Dyker Heights. Imagine how fast he must have been going! (News12)
• And two people were killed in a crash just off the Belt Parkway (aka the Sheepshead Bay Motor Speedway) in Brooklyn late Sunday. (NY Post)
• A teen Tesla driver did so much damage to a Long Island house that it had to be condemned. (NYDN, Newsday)
• The Staten Island Advance put all of the borough’s road deaths on a map. We can’t wait to see how Tom Wrobleski will find a way to see the bright side of all that car carnage.

And that’s just the stuff that was reported on Monday! Every day in this city, according to NYPD statistics, there are close to 230 reported crashes and 134 injuries, virtually all committed by car drivers.

In other, non-carnage, news:

• Let’s be honest: The best story of recent years was when “SNL” stars Pete Davidson and Colin Jost bought a decommissioned Staten Island Ferry boat. And the second best story was the Times’s post mortem about the pair’s terrible decision.
• Gov. Hochul announced that Metro-North service would go all the way to Albany starting next year. Take that, Amtrak! (NY Times, Gothamist, NYDN)
• We don’t know if billionaires are unstable, but we do know that their buildings are. (NY Post)
• The humble park bench is no longer something to take sitting down. (NY Times)
• Every time we FOIL the Hochul administration, we have to FOIL why we never get answers. NY Focus feels the same way.
• The Tour de Bronx was fun! (Bronx Times)
• A subway train came apart in The Bronx (Gothamist), forcing inspections all up and down the line (NYDN). Hell Gate had a reporter on the train!
• I’m an old man editor, but I do try to keep on top of what the kids are doing. Still, I missed Citi Bike Day (Hell Gate) and the Bike Kill (The Guardian). Why doesn’t my staff keep me informed?
• Finally, did you see the new official Zohran Mamdani merch includes a white bandana festooned with transit and micro-mobility? (Mamdani store)