Streetsblog New York City

State troopers driving in Westchester County for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s security detail injured two pedestrians in separate crashes over the last two days, according to a report by the Associated Press. The AP report, via Capitol Tonight:

Authorities say a second pedestrian has been injured after being hit by an unmarked car driven by a state trooper from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s security detail near the governor’s Westchester County home over the past two days.

State police say 50-year-old Jeronimo Ardon Perez of Mount Kisco was hit on Route 117 in Mount Kisco about 7 p.m. Thursday by a car driven by Investigator Gregory Panzarella. Perez was taken to Westchester Medical Center. His condition wasn’t immediately available Friday.

The other pedestrian, 22-year-old Dolce Perez, was hit by an unmarked car driven by Sgt. Joseph Crispino on Wednesday morning on Route 133 in Mount Kisco.

According to the AP, the officers were on duty but not responding to an emergency and the police are investigating the crashes. Though the two victims were injured on Wednesday and Thursday, the news is only coming out now.

A spokesperson for the governor tells Capitol Tonight that Cuomo was not in either of the vehicles at the times of the crashes.

Photo: @daniela_oneL via Gothamist

The Post is reporting that a Williamsburg man was killed this morning as he crossed Borinquen Place near Keap Street. The victim, 57-year-old Lepoldo Hernandez, was walking to meet a friend to carpool to work when he was struck by two drivers in succession. The first driver was traveling eastbound, and the second driver struck Hernandez as he lay in the street.

While police, as usual, are already telling the press that they “suspect no criminality,” Gothamist’s John del Signore cites a report from a local resident at the scene who was told that the first car was “going like 50″:

There was a crowd of onlookers and I saw the sheet over the body in the street. I did not see any vehicles around that looked damaged or anyone speaking with police, but witnesses said both drivers stayed at the scene. Motorists speed like crazy down this street to get on the Williamsburg Bridge. I watch them run the light, pass in the bike lane, and speed like it’s a free for all.

This fatal crash occurred in the 90th Precinct, which will hold its monthly precinct community council meeting tonight. To voice your concerns about neighborhood traffic safety directly to Deputy Inspector Michael M. Kemper, the commanding officer, head out to tonight’s meeting. The 90th precinct meetings happen at 7:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month, at 30 Montrose Avenue. A detective at the precinct confirmed that tonight’s meeting is set to happen as scheduled.

In what’s starting to be an annual tradition, Streetsblog’s first reader-submitted photo of 2012 shows a bus stop pole brought low by the impact of a motor vehicle. 2011 got off to a similar start.

This is the B69 stop at Vanderbilt and Atlantic, a stone’s throw from where Forest City Ratner and the Empire State Development Corporation want to build an enormous surface parking lot, beckoning people to drive to the new Barclays Center arena. The motorist who slammed into this pole had to drive across the Vanderbilt Avenue bike lane before wrecking city property. NYPD’s public information office had no details about the incident, which indicates that any bus riders or cyclists present at the time of the crash escaped with their lives intact.

Before the holidays, we caught word of three other curb-jumping incidents in Manhattan, at least two of which were known to have caused serious injuries. Not even the sidewalks are safe from driver recklessness. Meanwhile, City Council Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca spent the end of 2011 on a media tour talking up his commitment to bike enforcement.

This crash occurred in the 88th Precinct. The commanding officer there is Deputy Inspector Anthony Tasso. If you’re concerned about traffic safety and want the 88th to do something about it, you can bring it up at the next community council meeting. The 88th Precinct community council meets on the third Tuesday of each month. Locations vary. Call ahead (718 636-6526) to confirm meeting dates and times.

By many measures, 2011 was a bleak year for advocates of traffic safety. Where 2010 offered hope with the passage of new laws designed to hold reckless drivers accountable for harming vulnerable street users and the seating of a district attorney who pledged to do the same, this year saw those same laws go all but unenforced and erased any lingering notions that a top prosecutor might finally treat traffic violence as a deadly epidemic.

Meanwhile, a war on a model street safety project waged by politically-connected NIMBYs and their media lapdogs took its toll as planned safety improvements were scaled back, and the wishes of those powerful few proved to be the City Council’s commands. The coarse and inept handling of a tragic cyclist death in Brooklyn confirmed the worst suspicions regarding NYPD protocols and prejudices. Juries handed down junk verdicts, joining judges and prosecutors in excusing killer drivers with barely a slap on the wrist. The state’s highest court, in the words of a traffic justice pioneer, is in the process of “systematically decriminalizing” cases of death by motor vehicle.

Still, the fight for safer streets pushes on. The tenacious family of Mathieu Lefevre has shone a light on NYPD malfeasance, and Transportation Alternatives has launched a comprehensive probe into how the department investigates crashes that result in serious injury or death. Early in the new year Streetsblog will conduct a thorough review of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s record on traffic crime. New Yorkers from all walks of life of continue to demand better conditions for walking and cycling. For every James Vacca there is a Melissa Mark-Viverito. And each year NYC DOT re-engineers more streets for greater safety, as evidenced by projects like the pedestrian-oriented overhaul of Grand Army Plaza and the city’s first neighborhood 20 mph zone in Claremont.

What follows is our accounting of New York pedestrians and cyclists known to have lost their lives in 2011. Please use the comments to share remembrances of those named here, and the names and stories of those we missed.

Erica Abbott, Moshe Adler, Zhaneya Butcher, Aileen Chen.

• Erica Abbott, 29, Cyclist, Killed in Brooklyn; Driver Not Charged (Streetsblog, Gothamist)
• Mosha Adler, 83, Pedestrian, Killed in Brooklyn; No Known Charges (Streetsblog)
• Maritza Atkins, 68, Pedestrian, Killed in Queens; No Known Charges (Times Ledger 1, 2)
• Jeffrey Axelrod, 52, Cyclist, Killed in Manhattan; Driver Not Charged (Gothamist, Voice, Benepe’s)
• Robert Bond, 53, Pedestrian, Killed in Manhattan; Hit-and-Run, Top Charge Unknown (DNA, Post 1, 2)
• Anthony Buscemi, 68, Pedestrian, Killed in Queens; Driver Charged With Manslaughter (News, QChron)
• Zhaneya Butcher, 6, Pedestrian, Killed in Queens; Top Charge Unknown (News, QChron)
• Yolanda Casal, 78, Pedestrian; Killed in Manhattan; Driver Fined $500 (Streetsblog)
• Cesar Cepedes, 44, Killed in Queens; No Known Charges [MTA Bus] (News, NY1)
• Jerrold Chaleff, 71, Pedestrian, Killed in the Bronx; Driver Not Charged (Post)
• Aileen Chen, 16, Cyclist, Killed in Brooklyn; Driver Not Charged (Streetsblog, Gothamist)

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Photos: Liz Patek

Streetsblog reader Liz Patek sent in these photos of the aftermath of a Tuesday afternoon crash at 68th Street and Broadway, in front of the Loews Lincoln Square movie theater. Liz writes:

Police were still on the scene. From talking to people, it appears that the cab backed up at a high speed around the corner from 68th to Broadway in order to get a parking spot. One of the people I spoke to was hit by the cab. She was OK. Two other pedestrians were injured and taken away in ambulances before I arrived. According to another witness, one of the other pedestrians who was hit got pulled under the cab and dragged for several feet. The driver also took out the street light.

NYPD had no information on the crash, and we could find no media reports. All of which is a pretty good indicator of how common these non-fatal crashes with injuries are. For every fatality that is written up somewhere there are dozens of “minor” crashes like this one. If you saw what happened here or have any info, let us know in the comments.

This crash occurred in the 20th Precinct. The commanding officer there is Deputy Inspector Brian A. McGinn. To voice your concerns about neighborhood traffic safety directly to McGinn or other precinct higher-ups, drop in on the next community council meeting. The 20th Precinct council “usually” meets on the fourth Monday of each month, except in July and August, at the 20th Precinct station house, 120 W. 82nd Street, at 7:00 p.m. Call ahead (212-580-6428) to confirm meeting dates and times.

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The corner of Flatbush Avenue and Parkside Avenue, where a motorcyclist hit and killed a pedestrian yesterday. Image: Google Street View.

A motorcyclist driving north on Flatbush Avenue hit and killed a woman crossing the street at Parkside Avenue yesterday morning. NYPD’s public information office told Streetsblog the victim was crossing against the light and while an investigation is ongoing, no charges have been brought against the driver.

The crash took place yesterday around 5:00 in the morning. One commenter on the blog The Q at Parkside, which was the first outlet to report the crash, said that she came across the crash site moments after the incident. Wrote commenter Maizie, “An elderly woman said that a motorcycle sped around a bus and hit the pedestrian. She was surrounded by a number of do gooders who diverted traffic and directed the FDNY and ambulance personnel to her location. She was moving around, clearly in pain, and bled from her head.”

The police did not have any information about whether the motorcyclist was passing or speeding when he hit the victim.

The crash took place days after DOT announced plans to improve safety at the dangerous intersection of Parkside and Ocean Avenue, one block away. According to CrashStat, even more pedestrians were injured in traffic crashes at Parkside and Flatbush than at Parkside and Ocean between 2004 and 2009.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced yesterday that 32,885 people lost their lives on our nation’s roads in 2010. While a staggering toll, this represents the lowest total number of traffic fatalities since 1949. “We’re making historic progress when it comes to improving safety on our nation’s roadways,” said LaHood in a statement, also pointing out that the decrease in deaths came even as Americans are driving more [PDF].

Photo: The North Iowa Journal

The traffic crash and fatality rates in this country are indeed at historic lows, especially given the staggering amount of driving Americans do on a yearly basis. In 2005, the most recent year to have shown an increase in highway fatalities, there were 14.7 traffic deaths for every 100,000 U.S. residents. In 2010, that number had fallen to 10.7 deaths, a difference of approximately 10,000 fewer fatalities annually. (USDOT measures the death rate not by population but by vehicle miles traveled, also showing a dramatic improvement, from 1.5 deaths per million VMT to 1.1 over the same period. Interestingly, while total VMT rose in 2010, per-capita driving declined.)

The news was grimmer for people outside of a car than for drivers and passengers. Improved motor vehicle safety features were likely a factor in the lower fatality rate, according to the Boston Herald, but those same features mean little to non-occupants. After several progressively safer years, 2010 saw a 4.2 percent increase in pedestrian deaths—to 4,280, a difference of 171 human lives—and a whopping increase of about 11,000 nonfatal injuries. Bicycle deaths decreased 1.6 percent, but bike injury rates didn’t change at all. Clearly, safety gains for motorists have not extended to more vulnerable road users.

Furthermore, while it is certainly good news that traffic is claiming thousands fewer lives each year, 32,885 is a staggering number. It is roughly equivalent to 70 full jumbo jets crashing and leaving no survivors, or equal to the population of Juneau, AK or Dover, DE. There is enormous room for improvement: The fatality rate in the U.S. still pales beside leading countries like Japan (3.85 traffic deaths per 100,000) and Germany (4.5), which also happen to have much lower rates of driving than the U.S.

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An 80-year-old man was killed while walking in Sheepshead Bay on Tuesday.

According to NYPD and online reports, Aron Dudkin was crossing East 7th Street at Avenue T at 6:45 a.m. when he was hit by the driver of a Nissan. Dudkin was taken to Coney Island Hospital, where he died from his injuries.

The driver, a 21-year-old male, remained at the scene. “There is no criminality,” an NYPD spokesperson told Streetsblog. No further information was available.

The crossing where Dudkin was hit is a signalized intersection. Was he crossing with the light? Was the driver proceeding through the intersection on Avenue T, or turning from East 7th? Judging by video from the scene, it looks as if the victim was knocked out of his shoes. Was speed a factor? Unfortunately, these crucial details are kept off-limits by NYPD. As far the general public is concerned, in all likelihood this case is closed.

The crash that killed Aron Dudkin occurred in the 61st Precinct. The commanding officer there is Deputy Inspector Georgios Mastrokostas. To voice your concerns about neighborhood traffic safety directly to Deputy Inspector Mastrokostas or other precinct higher-ups, drop in on the next community council meeting. The 61st Precinct council meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 3093 Ocean Avenue at 7:30 p.m. Call ahead (718-627-6847) to confirm meeting dates and times.

The driver who dragged Milo Montivilla down Broadway in the Bronx says he never saw him. Photo: Daily News

A 57-year-old Bronx man was struck and killed by a school bus driver on Tuesday.

According to reports, at around 6:00 a.m. Milo Montivilla was crossing with the light at Broadway and Mosholu Avenue in North Riverdale when the bus driver, turning right, ran him over. The Daily News interviewed a witness at the scene:

“He was walking to catch his bus and the [school] bus just hit him and dragged him down the street,” said the witness, who declined to give her name.

“He was under it for a good 10 minutes. I couldn’t believe it.”

The witness said the bus operator did not appear to have seen the pedestrian and continued driving.

“Everybody was screaming, ‘You hit someone! You hit someone!’ Everyone bum-rushed the street,” she said.

“That’s when he stopped and got out. Everyone was on their phones calling the cops.”

The driver was too distressed to talk at the scene but could be overheard telling a supervisor on the phone: “I didn’t see him. It was too dark.”

The driver’s identity was not released. He was not charged.

“I didn’t seem him/her” are the magic words for the motorist who pulverizes another person, even if the victim is breaking no laws, is directly in front of the vehicle when hit, and is dragged down the street until passersby intervene. The driver’s speed, the possibility that he was distracted in some way — these factors seemingly become irrelevant to police and prosecutors when presented with the invisible pedestrian or cyclist defense, despite state laws enacted to protect vulnerable street users from everyday driver negligence.

The crash that killed Milo Montivilla occurred in the 50th Precinct. The commanding officer there is Captain Kevin J. Burke. To voice your concerns about neighborhood traffic safety directly to Captain Burke or other precinct higher-ups, drop in on the next community council meeting. The 50th Precinct council meets the second Thursday of every month at the station house, located at 3450 Kingsbridge Avenue, at 7:30 p.m. Be sure to call ahead (718-543-5978) to confirm meeting times and dates.

Transportation Alternatives today delivered over 2,500 citizen letters to Ray Kelly demanding that NYPD crack down on dangerous driving, and announced a comprehensive probe into how the department handles traffic crash investigations.

Flanked by dozens of supporters and victims of traffic violence at 1 Police Plaza, TA executive director Paul Steely White excoriated NYPD for what he called a “cavalier attitude” toward lawless driving. While hundreds are killed and thousands are injured by reckless drivers in the city every year, enforcement of traffic laws is relatively rare, and drivers who cause suffering and death are routinely excused by police and prosecutors without as much as a summons.

“It’s the NYPD’s job to keep dangerous driving in check by holding reckless drivers accountable,” said White, “but they are simply not taking that job seriously.”

Calling for a zero tolerance approach to a “public safety crisis,” TA will have attorneys review NYPD reports on recent crashes that resulted in serious injury or death. Evaluations will focus on whether police followed proper post-crash procedure and if victims were “guaranteed a full and fair investigation.”

Erika Lefevre, whose son Mathieu was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike in East Williamsburg in October, said that her family is still waiting for definitive information about the crash. Initially, police told reporters that Mathieu ran a red light at Morgan Avenue and Meserole Street and was struck by the driver of a flatbed truck making a right-hand turn. The NYPD report, however, indicates that Mathieu was hit from behind, and makes no mention of either Mathieu or the driver running a light.

The report identifies the driver who struck Lefevre as Leonardo Degianni of College Point. Degianni, 48, was driving a truck registered to Imperium Construction of Ridgewood. After hitting and dragging Lefevre, Degianni left the scene. Police found the truck a short distance from the crash site but did not locate Degianni for days. He was not charged.

Erika Lefevre said police have video of the crash along with other evidence, none of which her family has been allowed to see.

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