Streetsblog New York City

We have updates on the year’s first reported pedestrian and cyclist fatalities, which occurred in Manhattan and the Bronx on January 4 and 5.

The speeding driver responsible for the first reported pedestrian fatality of 2013 was not charged for taking a life. Photo: Daily News

NYPD was not ready to release the identity of either victim as of Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile, it remains unclear what caused last Friday’s collision between a cyclist and a private sanitation hauler on E. 23rd Street near Madison Avenue.

Though the Post made sure to point out that the victim was not wearing a helmet, as if a styrofoam shell strapped to her head might have offered a significant measure of protection against a multi-ton truck, media accounts were short on basic details, such as whether she was sideswiped or struck from behind. If past patterns hold, it will take a successful freedom of information request, a rarity when attempting to obtain public records from NYPD, to determine what happened.

“NYPD’s information blackout underscores the need for legislation to demand a cadre of trained crash investigators at each precinct,” says Charles Komanoff, referring to one facet of the Crash Investigation Reform Act, now in limbo in the City Council.

Komanoff produced the 1999 report “Killed by Automobile” [PDF], which found that private dump trucks kill more city pedestrians than any other type of vehicle.

Also needed, says Komanoff:

• Public reporting of all available info within a tight time window — “say, 48 hours” — with the possible exception of the driver’s identity, which could be released later;
• AIS or AIS-level analysis available within two weeks;
• an annual compilation of all traffic fatalities, including proximate-cause coding and assignment of culpability.

“Obviously, current ‘practice’ is a million miles away from this,” Komanoff says. “It continues to embody the mindset that traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities are acts of God and are impervious to analysis and prevention.”

Read more…

While a network of parks continues to sprout along the banks of the Bronx River, a dangerous gap between two parks could fester for years, preventing the creation of a continuous, safe walking and biking route for local residents. Advocates have launched a petition asking the city and state to overcome bureaucratic hurdles to complete the missing link, so people don’t have to risk their lives biking and walking across a freeway on-ramp between two parks.

Phase 2 of Starlight Park in the Bronx stalled after an impasse between the New York State DOT and Amtrak went on so long that funding expired in 2009. Advocates want to get it back on track. Map: Bronx River Alliance

A continuous greenway along the banks of the Bronx River, a longtime goal of nearby residents, has been moving ahead piece-by-piece for years. In the next step forward, the state is expected to open the first phase of Starlight Park as soon as this spring, after Hurricane Sandy delayed a fall 2012 opening. Meanwhile, the city is progressing on a greenway section linking Starlight Park to East Tremont Avenue to the north.

To the south sits Concrete Plant Park, a narrow strip of green on the river’s west bank, between Westchester Avenue and Bruckner Boulevard. The problem is getting from one park to the other.

To travel between the two parks, residents have to walk or bike along an on-ramp to the Sheridan Expressway. The second phase of Starlight Park, between East 174th Street and Westchester Avenue, would provide a safe route by extending the greenway, but bureaucratic snafus have put it on hold.

“It’s so unfriendly to pedestrians and cyclists that we do really need this connection to get between Concrete Plant Park and Starlight Park,” said Maggie Scott Greenfield, deputy director of the Bronx River Alliance.

The delays began when the state DOT and Amtrak failed to reach a legal agreement for a greenway bridge over the rail line. State funding for the project expired in 2009.

Looking to get the process back on track, the Bronx River Alliance has launched a petition asking the state to recommit funding and for the city to take over project management from the state so the park can be covered by an existing indemnity agreement between the city and Amtrak.

“We’ve heard that the state will look to see where funding is available,” Greenfield said, “But they are not confident that they will be able to provide 100 percent funding.” The state had committed to cover the entire cost of park construction before the funds expired four years ago.

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Maria Beria, Aileen Martinez, Sheena Mathew, Ronald Sinvil, Miguel Torres

In separate crashes in Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx, city motorists killed five pedestrians between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Four of the crashes, which took the lives of a child and three young mothers, were hit-and-runs.

At approximately 8:45 a.m. on December 28, 11-year-old Miguel Torres of Jackson Heights was crossing at Northern Boulevard and 80th Street, in the crosswalk and with the light, when he was hit by the driver of a dump truck.

Miguel was on his way to participate in a school field trip to Grand Central Terminal when he was killed. Olga Gonzalez, who witnessed the aftermath of the crash, told the Post: “It was so bad, when the ambulance guy came, he was crying … The car hit [Miguel] so hard his shoes came off. I just saw a little kid in the middle of the street, and I just started crying.”

The driver, who did not stop, was later located by police. To the dismay of Miguel’s grieving family, no criminal charges were filed. From DNAinfo:

“They’re just giving him summonses,” [Miguel's aunt Yolanda] Ardezzone said. “I think he should get more than summonses — jail time, so this won’t happen to another child.”

A spokeswoman for the NYPD said that although the police originally stated the child was involved in a hit-and-run, police were actually able to track down the driver at the scene.

“It appeared the driver was unaware they struck someone,” said the spokeswoman. No criminal charges had been filed by Sunday, but she said the case was still under investigation.

In New York State, a driver must know or have reason to know that he or she has caused injury in order to be charged for leaving the scene of a fatal crash. Even when police and prosecutors muster the will to bring charges — no sure thing by any means — an admission that the motorist “didn’t see” the victim serves as a reliable defense. From the Daily News:

A few hours after the incident, police found the driver of the 1988 truck in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He told police he didn’t know he had hit someone, tested negative for alcohol and had a valid driver’s license. Police said no criminal charges will be filed.

No charges, though according to the same Daily News story: “A police source said the truck’s rear wheels struck the boy, though a second source said the boy may have first been struck from the front end of the truck.”

If Queens District Attorney Richard Brown does indeed pursue a criminal case against Miguel Torres’s killer, it is a virtual lock that leaving the scene would be the top charge. Minus evidence of intoxication, a city motorist who kills a pedestrian or cyclist is practically guaranteed to escape charges for taking a life.

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In the wake of the city’s refusal to consider removing the Sheridan Expressway, advocates from the Southern Bronx River Watershed Alliance gathered last night at a town hall meeting to revise their game plan. Although the long-term vision of removing the highway lives on, the discussion focused on other potential improvements along the Sheridan corridor.

Community members talk about alternatives to highway removal at last night's town hall. Photo: Stephen Miller

“We started this campaign wanting a full removal of the Sheridan,” Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice Executive Director David Shuffler told the crowd of just under 100. “We’re at a different place now.”

“It’s off the table for now and the Alliance accepts that,” said Tri-State Transportation Campaign Executive Director Veronica Vanterpool told Streetsblog. “These sorts of grand visions often take decades.”

With or without a highway removal, many community goals can still be achieved, including improved pedestrian safety and redevelopment to support business incubation and affordable housing. The Alliance has long advocated for new ramps from the Bruckner Expressway to the Hunts Point Produce Market to reduce the impact of truck traffic on surrounding neighborhoods, but also wants to ensure that local residents get better access to new waterfront parks along the Bronx River.

All the Alliance members — Mothers on the Move, Nos Quedamos, The Point Community Development Corporation, Sustainable South Bronx, the Pratt Center for Community Development, YMPJ and TSTC — were at last night’s meeting. Overall it was a young audience, with lots of turnout from teenagers involved in local community groups. ”I was a young person when I got involved in this work many years ago,” Shuffler told Streetsblog. ”What’s really critical is an inter-generational conversation. We engage their parents, as well.”

Participants broke into six groups to discuss how the area around the Sheridan Expressway can be improved without removing the freeway entirely. They looked at five zones along the corridor before reporting back to the entire meeting.

In addition to identifying opportunities for affordable housing, business incubators, and recreational space, participants discussed new approaches to reconnecting the areas that have been divided by the Sheridan, such as decking over sections of the highway instead of a complete teardown.

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Based on NYPD crash data and media reports, it appears that a toddler who was hit by a driver in the Bronx earlier this year soon died from his injuries.

No charges were filed against the driver of this SUV, who struck a 2-year-old boy in Parkchester in March. The crash was recorded as a pedestrian fatality by NYPD. Photo: Daily News

On March 27 at around 4:40 p.m., a 2-year-old boy was chasing after an ice cream truck on Taylor Avenue in Parkchester when he was struck by an SUV driven by a 73-year-old woman, according to the Daily News and DNAinfo. The stories did not identify the child, who suffered a head injury and was initially hospitalized in critical condition, and Streetsblog could find no subsequent media coverage of the crash.

The crash occurred in the 43rd Precinct, which reported one pedestrian fatality in March. According to the March NYPD crash data report, the fatality happened on Taylor Avenue near the Cross Bronx Expressway, which matched the location cited by the Daily News. The vehicle involved in the crash was identified by NYPD as an SUV or station wagon.

The child was said to have been “thrown several feet into the air,” and a witness indicated to the News that the driver may have been speeding. But there is no sign that police or prosecutors pursued charges.

“You could tell she was going too fast,” said area resident Algeny Capellan, 30. “When you see an ice cream truck, you gotta slow down.

“I feel sorry for her, too,” she said of the driver.

The driver remained on the scene and was taken to the 43rd Precinct stationhouse for questioning.

Criminal charges were not expected to be filed, police sources said.

Likewise, five hours after the crash DNAinfo reported that “no criminality was suspected.”

“This is terrible,” Ralph Luchiano, a neighbor, told the News. “They go too fast down this street.” A month earlier, a livery cab driver slammed into a home a short distance away on Taylor Avenue, the second motorist to hit the same house in two years.

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NYPD torpedoed its own investigation into the crash that killed a Bronx cyclist, whose death was not reported to the Accident Investigation Squad for over a month.

Joseph Nelson, 54, was riding his bike near the intersection of Fordham Road and Jerome Avenue on the afternoon of April 14 when he hit the open door of a parked car, which was then driven from the scene, according to DNAinfo. Paramedics found Nelson unconscious in the street. He was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital.

Joseph Nelson. Photo via DNAinfo

Though he died shortly after the crash, the 52nd Precinct did not inform the NYPD Accident Investigation Squad until May 18.

“Amazingly, it was the medical examiner’s office that confirmed the cause of death after an autopsy was performed,” wrote Daniel Flanzig, an attorney hired by Nelson’s family, on Gothamist. “We believe once that office made the conclusion as to the cause of death being caused by a ‘dooring’ they then notified the NYPD. This was when we believe [the] assignment was given to the AIS for the first time.”

John Nelson tells a familiar story: The family enlisted an attorney after his brother’s death because NYPD was uncommunicative. ”I got one initial call,” he told DNAinfo. “Aside from that, I got no information, no assistance, nothing at all from the Police Department.”

As with other instances when AIS failed to respond after a crash that resulted in the death of a cyclist or pedestrian, investigators have reportedly turned up no leads in Nelson’s case. ”The first thing would be witnesses,” said Flanzig. “This was never done. They can also pull video but most gets automatically recorded over after 30 days. This was never done by the NYPD.”

The 52nd Precinct recorded no cyclist deaths in its April crash data report, and reported only one crash, involving a motorcycle, at Fordham Road and Jerome Avenue.

DNAinfo spoke with an AIS investigator, who was quoted but not named in the story. “We weren’t called the day of the accident,” the officer said. “That usually turns out to be a problem.”

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Left: The concept for center-running bus lanes on Webster Avenue in the Bronx. Right: Offset bus lanes, the option that was selected for the Select Bus Service project. Image: NYC DOT/MTA

This spring, there was a glimmer of hope that Webster Avenue in the Bronx would get the first center-running bus-only lanes in New York. With NYC DOT and the MTA bringing Select Bus Service to Webster Avenue, the center-running option would have been the city’s boldest effort yet to implement high-quality bus rapid transit. While Select Bus Service is still in the works for Webster Avenue and bus trips are on track to improve, the project won’t include center-running lanes, which do more to keep buses moving smoothly through traffic than bus lanes next to the curb or the parking lane.

The decision was announced at the most recent Community Advisory Committee meeting about the project. Webster Avenue will instead get offset bus lanes, which should be familiar to anyone who uses SBS on First and Second Avenues in Manhattan. These bus lanes run next to the parking lane, with passengers boarding from sidewalk extensions that let the bus avoid merging over to the curb and back. (A third option, which was rejected, would have put the bus lanes curbside and eliminated on-street parking.)

Webster Avenue will also be getting Transit Signal Priority to hold green lights for approaching buses.

Center-running bus lanes would almost certainly have required dedicated signals for drivers making left turns. This change could have negatively affected the “Level of Service” projections for how many vehicles could move through a given intersection.

A DOT spokesperson said that Level of Service projections were not a factor in rejecting the center-running bus lanes, citing other reasons for the decision. Because local bus stops would remain curbside, DOT said, those buses would have had to constantly enter and exit the center-running lanes in order to benefit from them. In addition, dedicated left-turn signals would have reduced the amount of green light time for the bus lanes, and private vehicles would be have been prevented from making left turns at a number of intersections.

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In the Norwood neighborhood of the Bronx, there are no crosswalks connecting to the central public space, Williamsbridge Oval Park. Much of the street that surrounds the park even lacks sidewalks. Fed up with what they say is inaction from DOT’s Bronx office, local residents are now appealing to the top with a letter to Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan [PDF].

With no crosswalks to Williamsbridge Oval, and no sidewalks on much of the street surrounding the park, local families often end up walking in traffic. Photo: Friends of the Williamsbridge Oval

Anyone trying to access the park, including students from nearby M.S. 80 and kids going to the playground, must navigate Reservoir Oval. The street has no clear place to walk or cross the street. “People generally believe this is just an accident waiting to happen,” explained Friends of the Williamsbridge Oval member Jay Shuffield.

Requests for pedestrian safety improvements leading to the park from Friends of the Williamsbridge Oval and Bronx Community Board 7 date back to 2009. And this March, Bronx Borough Commissioner Constance Moran met at Williamsbrige Oval with members of the friends group, staff from Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz’s office, a representative from NYPD’s 52nd Precinct, and Community Board 7′s District Manager. In a later email, Moran committed to a pedestrian safety study and said she would update the group on the study by early August.

Advocates were looking to focus initial improvements on the intersection most in need of attention, at Holt Place, while aiming for a comprehensive study of pedestrian access along the Oval. The study’s results could then be used to implement longer-term pedestrian improvements.

In July, a speed hump requested by Council Member Oliver Koppell in April 2011 was installed. In addition to the study, Moran said road markings that had faded would be repainted.

Since then, there has been little action from DOT, say advocates, who are still waiting for the promised early August update on the study.

A DOT spokesperson said the agency is undertaking a study of the intersection of Reservoir Oval and Holt Place and will present its recommendations when the study is complete. In addition, DOT said it is “working on a comprehensive plan for safety enhancements along the length of the Reservoir Oval.”

Park advocates report that the Williamsbridge Oval process stands out compared to other DOT projects in the area, where the agency engaged neighborhood residents. Noting that “community members have been able to talk directly with the planners and engineers” working on the Congested Corridor Study for nearby East Gun Hill Road, Friends of the Williamsbridge Oval are asking DOT staff to meet with them to discuss options for Reservoir Oval. “A firm date is important,” said Shuffield, “so that this doesn’t continue to get kicked down the road for another few years.”

Two people are dead and another is in critical condition after separate hit-and-run crashes in the Bronx this weekend.

David Ellis in a family photo. Via Daily News

On Friday at around 11:20 p.m., David Ellis was riding a friend’s bike on Webster Avenue near East Gun Hill Road when he was struck by the driver of a Nissan Maxima traveling in the same direction, according to reports. The impact threw Ellis into the path of the driver of a Ford Explorer, who ran him over. The driver of the Maxima and a passenger fled on foot, while the second driver remained at the scene.

Ellis, 18, was a high school football standout who, according to his family, coach and teammates, was on track to play college ball. NYPD told the Daily News they had identified the occupants of the Maxima, who had not been located as of Saturday.

Less than an hour after Ellis was hit, two men crossing Grand Concourse near E. 170th Street were struck by the driver of a Honda CRV who, according to police and witnesses, never slowed down, and who stopped only when he crashed into EMS responders en route to the scene. Juan Rivera-Quintana, 42, was pronounced dead at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital. The second victim, a 34-year-old male whose name was not released, was reported in critical condition as of Sunday night.

Police identified the driver as Richard Habermann, 37, from Armonk. Prosecutors said Habermann refused a breath test at the scene. After police obtained a warrant, his blood alcohol content was reportedly found to be .234 percent, roughly three times the legal limit for driving. Habermann was charged with homicide, manslaughter, vehicular assault, leaving the scene, DWI, reckless driving and other charges, according to court records.

In New York State, prosecutors have long sought to untangle legal obstacles that prevent police from obtaining crucial blood alcohol evidence from suspected drunk drivers, who now stand to benefit from the lag time between a crash and the procurement of a warrant. So onerous are the requirements that a 2009 panel, convened after high-profile pedestrian fatalities caused by off-duty NYPD personnel, set its sights mainly on shortening the warrant time frame from seven to five hours.

In addition, under current New York law drivers have an incentive to flee the scene of a crash. A bill to increase penalties for hit-and-run crashes failed in the legislature this year.

A Bronx Helpers rally in support of pedestrian safety. Image: Transportation Alternatives

The Bronx Helpers set out to get a stop sign. They won 17 blocks of safer streets.

The Mt. Eden neighborhood was one of 13 neighborhoods selected as a 20 mph slow zone this week, and one of only four slated for installation this year. The successful push for a safer speed limit and the speed humps to enforce it came from the Helpers, an after-school organization that has been tackling pedestrian safety issues in the neighborhood for three years.

The group began in 2009 by fighting for a stop sign at the corner of 172nd and Townsend, gathering over 1,000 signatures on a petition. After three years, they finally succeeded in bringing safety improvements to the corner, when DOT daylighted the intersection to improve visibility for drivers and pedestrians.

With one victory under their belts, the Helpers set their sights on a bigger target: a slow zone to improve safety across their entire neighborhood. These young activists, clearly effective agents of social change, won that too.

In a story published yesterday, the Daily News’ Daniel Beekman talked to a few of the Bronx Helpers about their victory. Reading their reactions is a great way to start your weekend:

“I feel happy and proud,” said Deomar Suarez, 12. “We worked really hard. We just kept trying and trying. We sent letters and made calls. We didn’t give up.”

“I’m really surprised,” said Rafael Gonzalez, 12. “I never know I could do something so big. I feel great about it.”