Streetsblog New York City

Cyclist-Pedestrian Fatality: a particularly tragic incident as the victim was a young parent. The thing to remember is that such fatalities have occurred in New York City an average of once a year for the last ten years. A horrible, life-changing and life-ruining event for the familiy? Yes. A preventable form of death? Most certainly yes, and every cyclist needs to take the utmost care to avoid striking pedestrians. A significant public health issue? Not by a long shot.

A memorial ride in which bicyclists can demonstrate their respect and sympathy for this family should be organized.

No disrespect to the woman who lost her life - she left behind a family that loves her and it is a tragic event. However, I ran into a jaywalking pedestrian as well while riding down 9th street in the slope. While I agree that bikers as a whole need to make more of a habit of stopping at lights, in my instance, the woman was crossing against the light, was listening to an iPod AND didn't even bother to look in my direction as she was crossing the street. I verbally announced that I was coming near, she stopped for a moment in the street, and then proceeded to walk into my path whereupon I crashed into her because I didn't have opportunity to fully change my path. I tore a ligament in my knee from the incident and my bike got bent out of shape. The jaywalking woman fell over, but no serious harm done, but she proceeded to yell a storm at me, telling me I shouldn't be riding in the street without a bike lane, that I'm supposed to yield to pedestrians, even if I have the green light, etc etc etc.

Pedestrians are just as much at fault throughout the city in many situations. Notice how many flaunt red lights to cross because they are simply following the person in front of them.

And, yet, Dave, these so-called "lethal weapons" have killed somewhere around 15 New York City pedestrians in the last 20 years. By this standard of lethality, bath tubs, space heaters and toaster ovens are veritable mass murderers. Shall we crack down and license them too?

And what, really, would licensing accomplish given the way that traffic laws are enforced in this town? We've got pedestrians being killed by motor vehicles on average four times a week (and that's pretty good. It used to be a daily occurrence). In many cases the motorist drives off and is never found. If, however, the motorist stops his car and is found to be sober then regardless of how recklessly he was driving or how legally the pedestrian was crossing the street, the fatality is called an "accident" and the motorist walks away with nothing worse than a "Failure to Yield" summons. The cops don't even bother to investigate if the guy was talking on the phone, twiddling his stereo knob... nothing. This kind of street killing happens multiple times each week in New York City.

So, to suggest that some sort of crackdown or regulation of cyclists is a major priority is just absurd, even repulsive.

"Unless it was a freak accident -- the pedestrian hitting her head on the curb -- my expectation is the cyclist was probably going too fast."

Aren't fatal crashes between people and bicycles freak accidents? They're extremely rare, and so newsworthy and emotionally charged in a way that common fatal accidents between motor vehicles and pedestrians are not. But Daily News has thrown out any effort at editorial fairness with their "no justice" headline and the slant of the article, as compared to any article about a person on foot or bicycle being run over by a car or truck (whose driver was sober, and stayed at the scene). Those are always "just a tragic accident" regardless of minor details like who had right of way. The bias is callous beyond belief. As is Dave's comment, using this crash as a hypothetical springboard to rail against something that didn't happen there.

I do think the bicycle was probably moving imprudently fast, faster than I ride or like to see people ride. But at least the rider was in compliance with the law, which is more than can be said for all motor vehicle turning conflict deaths where "didn't see him" is codified on the spot as a meaningful excuse for killing someone who actually has right of way. But fine. Let's have some skeptical, both-sides coverage of this crash—if we'll have the same the next hundred-damn-times someone is run down by a multiton vehicle.

so the rider who essentially killed the woman could have ridden off with no way to identify her.

Can anybody cite an instance -- ever -- of a bicyclist hitting a pedestrian, causing death or serious injury, and riding off without identifying him/herself?

Bikers and pedestrians are hit almost every day by motorists who drive away as though nothing happened, but I've never heard of a hit-and-run bicyclist. Perhaps Dave can supply us with a list.