Trucks

A truck driver killed a pedestrian in Glendale this morning. Police had filed no charges as of this afternoon. It is unclear if the truck was legally allowed to operate on city streets.

Update: The victim in this crash was identified as Winnifred Matthias, 77. She died from her injuries.

In the space of a few hours this afternoon, one cyclist's experience, chronicled in real time on Twitter, summed up NYPD's indifference to keeping bike lanes clear of motor vehicles.

This morning, the Association for a Better New York, a business group, hosted a discussion on the city's infrastructure. The focus was squarely on transportation, and the message wasn't pretty. Panelists warned of dire consequences if elected officials don't act on the precarious state of transportation funding.

About 350 pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are killed each year by large trucks in this country. Big freight trucks are incompatible with cities in many ways, bringing danger, pollution, noise, and traffic congestion. They park in bike lanes and have shockingly big blind spots, putting everyone around them at risk. And yet, most cities haven't found a way to reconcile the need to move goods with all their other priorities.

This morning just before 8:00 a.m., Noshat Nahian, age 8, was on his way from his home on 32nd Avenue to school at PS 152 when a tractor-trailer driver turning left onto Northern Boulevard struck Nahian in the crosswalk along 61st Street. He was pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital.

Sanitation truck drivers are among the most dangerous to NYC pedestrians and cyclists, and two City Council bills that could lead to recycling -- rather than banning -- plastic-foam containers may end up putting 1,000 more trash haulers on city streets.

Three people were killed by motorists in separate crashes in Manhattan and Brooklyn over the weekend.

New York City should be an ideal place to ship cargo by bike. It's dense, space is at a premium, traffic regularly ensnares delivery trucks, and customers demand near-instant delivery. Despite its advantages, pedal-powered freight delivery has remained a niche operation. A panel at a conference on last-mile freight delivery hosted by the University Transportation Research Center today explored why. The reasons are as simple as bollards blocking bridge entrances and as complex as New York's regulatory black hole for electric bicycles.