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There's a heartbreaking article about Franklin Chimbo dealing with arranging funerals for his wife and 3 year old son, who were killed on Monday by a hit-and-run driver. Chibo's wife, Carman Lata, their son Alex, and her brother were brossing Northern Boulevard at 102nd Street in Queens to buy a Metrocard when a van hit Lata and Alex, dragging Lata along. Lata was pronounced dead at the hospital, while Alex died after complications from his collapsed lung, broken bones, and punctured liver. The police are still looking for the driver of a green van with gold stripes and gold rims; the van apparently didn't have its lights on. Anyone with information is urged to call 1-800-577-TIPS, the Crime Stoppers Hotline.
The driver of Sunday's hit-and-run which resulted in a young woman's leg being amputated turned herself in. Donna Dashosh had been driving while intoxicated when her white Jaguar backed up into Adriana Melnichenko on Sheepshead Bay Road. Dashosh's father told reporters that she had been scared and did the right thing by turning herself in, but Gothamist would like to go one further by saying she shouldn't have been driving drunk period.
And there was a hit-and-run outside the Flatiron building on Fifth Avenue between 22nd and 23rd Streets that killed a man in his 20s at around 3:30AM this morning. Hearing stories like these really infuriates us. We know accidents can happen, but driving drunk, driving without headlights, being careless and arrogant - it's just so unneccessary.
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The really frustrating thing is how automobile drivers feel they have the right to drive however they want. This is why you hear so much honking in NY - it's a constant reminder how many people in cars just want everyone else to get the fuck out of the way, especially those pedestrians and cyclists whose tax dollars maintain the roads they drive and park on, and support a war to keep their precious gasoline cheap! TA has more info.
I see at least one car a week without its headlights on - try to let them know. I also see several a week that blatantly go through red lights... including busses. for this reason, I am in favor of cameras at traffic lights. what's the rush people?
PLEASE send comments to the NYC Dept of Transportation. They need to hear from a variety of people that there is a problem w/ lawless driving on the city streets.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/assist.html
wtf? when will nyc start enforcing the actual laws of the driving land. budget this, budget - bullsht. simply raise the fines for reckless driving, speeding, red light running, etc; actually give out tickets for these infrigments (instead of to parked cars hurting nobody) and voila - budget gap closed and lives saved. why is this so hard?
This doesn't pertain to this exact instance, as I don't know the details of how everythign happened, but as a combo pedestrian/cyclist/driver, I can say that while outrageous driving habits are a major concern, outrageous pedestrian habits probably don't help matters very much either. The city is full of people who jaywalk right into the middle of traffic and expect cars to stop for them, often stepping out without hesitation from behind parked cars and in the middle of a block. I'm especially fond of the peopel who do this while obliviously pushing their baby stroller into moving traffic.
Drivers here are awful. No doubt about that. But a good many pedestriants do their best to contribute to calamity as well.
Oh yeah -- let me mention that regardless of who may be at fault in these various accidents, even a jaywalking pedestrian who dances right intot he middle of oncoming traffic doesn't justify a hit and run situation. I'm baffled by the mentality there -- esp. in cases when the driver wasn't at fault. I assume it means that there are far more unlicensed, uninsured, or otherwise prime for troubel drivers who think it's best to just make a break for it even when they're not at fault and it leaves a life damaged or taken than face a fine for driving with out a license or whatever else it was they were doing. Fucking unbelievable. And of course, when the drivers are responsible and make a break for it -- I've always been big on that being prosecuted as attempted murder.
That Jaguar hit-and-run is a Bonfire of the Vanities redux! Hats off, Tom Wolfe.
Keith, drivers of cars don't die because of reckless pedestrians. About one person in five years dies by being hit by a bicycle in NYC. This is the difference. The use of automobiles has created the deadly situation in which the pedestrian has to compensate for a driver's inability in certain situations to stop. We might, as a society, accept these types of risks for the sake of letting people use their cars, but let's be clear on where the danger comes from.
I find Keith Allison's comment outrageous. The most superficial internet search would show that
the incident involving the Chimbo-Lata family had nothing to do with jaywalking.
Little Alex, the boy, was not in a stroller but walking between his mom and his uncle. They were waiting for the pedestrian light and were crossing properly and carefully when their murderer appeared.
To come here and write about reckless pedestrians when the guilty part was the reckless one behind the wheel is pathetic.
And, to Jen: Thanks for your note on this issue. However, for next time, please double check the names. The mother that died was Carmen Lata, no Carman Lata. The family is Chimbo, as you initially wrote, no Chibo, as is noted later.
Maria -- I believe I said my statement does not apply to this particular case, bus is a more general comment on the state of things. Please read everything before commenting. "This doesn't pertain to this exact instance..." is the very first thing I wrote.
Jim -- pedestrians don't kill cars, but even when a car is moving at a legal speed and obeying laws, and say, someone steps out directly in front of it at night, what's the driver to do? Those things don't stop automatically.
Sorry, Jim, my response to you wasn't what it should have been. But I'll say this -- if a pedestrian knowngly breaks a law -- say, walking from between two parked cars in the middle of a block in the middle of moving traffic that has the legal right of way -- isn't that pedestrian the danger? If that action causes harm to the pedestrian, or to a motorist who might have to slam on brakes or swerve and potentially hit another car or another person -- isn't that pedestrian doing the damage? Just because they may not physically and directly be involved in the contact that occurs, I still consider them the danger and the cause of the damage. Once again, as someone who is, on any given day, a cyclist, pedestrian, and motorist, I feel that it's my responsibility in all three instances to obey the laws, and should at some point I chose not to, I bear the responsibility for whatever accident my actions may cause, either to myself or others.
I'll also reiterate that my scenario doe snot apply to events in which the motorist is clearly in the wrong, or even in events where the motorist may not have been the cause of an accident but choses to try and make a get-away. In the latter instance, the moment that happens, it ceases to be a question of fault and becomes a question of criminality. Nor would I imply that even when a pedestrian is in the wrong, if there's reasonable cause to assume an accident could have been avoided, should the driver bear no responsibility -- especially if that driver's judgment or reaction time is impaired by drunkeness.
So I guess, what I'm saying is there are laws that govern the operation of a car. They should be obeyed. There are also laws that govern the behavior of pedestrians and cyclists. They too should be obeyed.
Keith, I hear what you're saying.
While there are laws regarding the behavior of all three parties (who may be the same person at different times), only one is potentially deadly. No cars, no death. So why should the pedestrian have the same level of responsibility for obeying the law?
That's where I disagree with you. Without cars, would we even need jaywalking laws? And aren't cars in many other ways a burden and an annoyance in our city?