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The sad truth of being a pedestrian in New York City is that pedestrians have be on the defensive. On Sunday night, 23-year-old Sabina Paradi was crossing 37th Street at Ninth Avenue when a truck making a left turn hit her. The driver was "cited for failure to yield right of way," which means that the driver didn't stop for pedestrians.
Paradi suffered critical head injuries, and her father Bodo Paradi told the Post, "We're just hoping for a miracle at this point." Paradi, who has a nutrition fellowship at NY Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, had been on a first date during the incident. Yesterday, a commenter brought up a good point about most accident happening at intersections, which seems to make crossing the street in the middle much safer. But until the Department of Transportation gives pedestrian exclusive crossing times or levies higher fines on offenses like failing to yield, it's up to the pedestrians to remain vigilant.
And in Queens, a cyclist was killed when he collided with a car in Elmhurst yesterday afternoon. The Sun reports that both cars were traveling east, and that the driver, who stayed at the scene, "isn't suspected of causing the accident."
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Here we go again.... cars are bad... blah blah blah... bang cars in Manhattan... blah blah blah.
I predict 38 comments on this one.
what a heartless loser. i'm really aghast at who is attracted and reads gothamist these days.
Again, how does Gothamist know that these were "accidents"? "Crash" is the more accurate term.
i really think we should implement the flag system like in salt lake city. take a flag as you cross the street, put the flag back when you're on the other side. simple. you wave it and cars can see you and it seems fun!
I almost got wailed at W. 36th st and 9th Ave on Sunday night when it was snowing. A PA/NYNJ snow plow, rolled through a red light. It was making a right turn.
"Yesterday, a commenter brought up a good point about most accident happening at intersections, which seems to make crossing the street in the middle much safer."
Jesus, Jen. Not only is your grammar terrible, so too is your critical analysis. think about how many millions of crossings per day happen in crosswalks, as opposed to the middle of the street. just because most accidents happen there, doesn't mean that crossing the street between the blocks is safer.
the driver should be charged with involuntary vehicular manslaughter, should this woman die, and a substantial, lesser charge if she doesn't. it's time for pedestrians to demand that drivers be held truly accountable for their actions.
i'm with here we go again.
why can't all you whiny yuppies get used to the fact that we drivers can get away with murdering you with our cars. well, in this case, i guess the driver was cited, but i think proving the point about who really has the "right of way" is well worth it. is this non-story really worth wasting precious bandwidth? i agree that jen chung only writes this type of garbage to stir up all those idiot commenters from streetsblog.
i might also be with tellsie, but i'm not sure what the hell he or she is saying.
SPEAK UP FOR PEDESTRIAN SAFETY!
Emergency Rally
3:00 pm Sunday, March 4th
City Hall Steps
So to the first commenter and comment no. 7, cars have the right of way in the city because many people who drive them are raging assholes who will run over pedestrians even at a red light? Is that what you're saying? That's an incredible argument.
Posters 1 an 7 are called "trolls". It's safe to ignore them.
When are the advocate groups like TA going to realize that the city equates them with bike messengers, not everyday pedestrians? I ride and walk and hate asshole drivers as much as the next person, but even I'm embarrassed by the many clods on bikes who ride sidewalks and run lights.
Can't we have an intelligent campaign to convince the city of the incredibly dangerous situation out there without our argument getting sidetracked with a debate about "that bike messenger who nearly ran me over on 6th Avenue in 1998?"
Blah blah blah... Ben Kabak Blah... Blah blah Yankees... Blah blah... Drivers suck... blah blah blah... drivers are assholes... blah blah blah...
I revise my count to 42 comments.
Hey Kabak, do you have a license? Did you fail the exam 5 times? Is that why you hate all drivers? Is this why you alway have to comment when the topic is cars?
I was nearing a corner in Williamsburg last night when a sanitation truck barreled through a red light (turning right) at about 40 mph. Like, WTF?!
For the record, Comment #1 is just calling out the really dumb people who think it's feasible, or possible, to ban auto-traffic in the city. Those people deserve to be called out for being dumb, because it's not possible given the number of people who work in the city and the state of transit from the Metro area. And, more to the point, the really rich people who control the government likes them their cars.
Comment #7, on the other hand, is a troll; and an excellent one at that.
"sanitation truck barreled through a red light (turning right) at about 40 mph"
Right. You can't even take most highway ramps at 40mph and you think a sanitation truck can take a typical intersection at 40mph??
So many non-drivers here are clueless!!!
I'm pretty sure that #7 is an example of sarcasm, not trolling.
Also, the reason why it's safer to cross in the middle of a street rather than at an intersection has nothing to do with statistics. It has to do with logic. There are less things to be mindful of in the middle of the street whereas the number of possible actions by cars is much greater in an intersection. Use your head as more than a hatrack.
IGNORE the Trolls.
Ninth Ave below 42nd is very dangerous for pedestrians.
So many non-drivers here are clueless!!!
I do drive, and I'm hardly clueless. He was going WAY too fast.
Hey Kabak, do you have a license? Did you fail the exam 5 times? Is that why you hate all drivers? Is this why you alway have to comment when the topic is cars?
Nope. I passed the first time with flying colors and have spent years driving in the city. I don't hate drivers in the city, but I think a large number of them are inconsiderate and self-centered. (And yes, many of those are from the suburbs or drive taxis.) I'm less amused by anonymous trolls though who are too scared to reveal anything about themselves.
I drive in all 5 boroughs, and always wait for peds to cross. It's the damn LAW and it's the right thing to do anyway. That doesn't stop the jackoffs behind me from honking, as if to say RUN THEM OVER! I'M IN A HURRY! Of course I ignore them but it makes you wonder what they are thinking. Maybe they are honking at the pedestrians to sprint across the street?
I have lived on that corner for years. I have been hit twice (neither time seriously injured) and my wife once (sending her to the hospital.) The city has made the intersection worse by adding fences to limit pedestrian access, creating bottlenecks of pedestrians trying to navigate through cars blocking the intersection. This has been going on for years, glad that it's getting publicity here at least. Maybe someday, someone will fix it.
By the way, #14, 40 MPH is easy to do right there. It's a long straight road and if you speed though, you miss a red light at 34th street - a straight shot from 57th Street to Abingdon Square. BTW, yes, I am licensed with mortorcycle and commercial endorsements, no accidents or summonses for 25 years. You should get the facts before leaving inaccurate comments!
With the typical non-response from the city, I'm amazed the driver even got cited.
This young woman was going to Weill Cornell. If she dies, we, the public, will sadly miss out on the benefits of this bright young mind. I do hope she pulls through.
If I prayed, now would be the time to do so.
Yeah, it's especially sad when someone smart dies.
Oh, for the love of crap, that's not what I meant. Quite the opposite. You can fight over where to cross the street, or who's to fault, and that happens on the Gothamist comments section a lot. But someone was hurt, a person. That's all I was trying to say. Bring back a little empathy, that's all.
Do drivers have to stop for pedestrians? I've been in New York for 9 months and I assumed it was the other way round, after being nearly hit several times.
"Can't we have an intelligent campaign to convince the city of the incredibly dangerous situation out there without our argument getting sidetracked with a debate about "that bike messenger who nearly ran me over on 6th Avenue in 1998?""
isn't the issue basically that we're dealing with anecdote v. anecdote? obviously those who care for point a will enjoy those anecdotes that support their case, and vice versa.
how dangerous is "incredibly dangerous?"
Clearly, this specific incident was someone who was trying to make a left and either didn't see or didn't make an effort to see if there were people crossing. From the article, this appears to be the work of a wild driver.
To make a generalization, however, that all pedestrians are wrong, or all drivers are wrong is stupid. It's actually very simple. If the little light has a symbol of a person walking or a blinking hand, you have the right of way as a pedestrian. If its just a hand, you don't.
I do the reverse commute every day.. and I see crazy drivers do things that are ridiculous. But just as often I see pedestrians blindly trying to cross the street when they do not have the right of way, even when 35 mph traffic is charging towards them.
If there is a questionable section that makes either the pedestrian or driver unsure of who has the right of way, the city needs to fix it. Aside from that (and taxis), its up to the drivers to obey the right of way rule, AS WELL as pedestrians because it goes both ways. When you don't, you do so at your own risk.
Right on, Mike.
Actually, Mike is wrong.
Streets shouldn't be kill zones. Our roads are currently designed in a way that makes it very easy for drivers to hit and kill pedestrians if the pedestrians or the drivers make a mistake or get distracted.
It shouldn't be like that. Our roads should be designed in such a way that it's very hard to hit & kill a pedestrian, even if the pedestrian makes a mistake.
If cars keep running pedestrians over during turns, maybe we should change the lights so that there is a 4-way stop at every intersection, and cars don't make turns when pedestrians are crossing.
Furthermore, cars shouldn't be able to go fast in the city. We should time the traffic lights so that cars come to a stop at every corner, at every single light. Cars simply shouldn't be going 30-40 MPH in densely populated areas unless they're rescue vehicles with lights and sirens blaring.
I'm sick and tired of people dying so that a handful of drivers can get through the city fast. Get through the city slow. You're warm & dry in your car. Turn on the radio. Relax. Your convenience simply isn't worth someone's life.
You know why paved roads were invented in the first place? For bikes. I totally don't want to get into the whole bikes rule/suck debate, but it's true.
And to poster number 29] I couldn't agree more especially about that last part.
See The Good Roads Project.
yes, i was trolling. now my true agenda can be revealed: if you're driving a car, and you're found to have been in any way at fault in an accident, with a pedestrian, bicyclist, or fellow motorist, and that accident results in a fatality, the consequence should include, at the very least, permanent revocation of your driver's license.
i can acknowledge that in certain circumstances, drivers are entitled to the right of way over pedestrians, but that should never be an excuse to run people over. people privileged to enjoy the streets with a rolling metal cage protecting them from danger should look out for those poor souls transporting themselves on their own two feet.
i understand that civil tort law recognizes subtle distinctions amongst contributory negligence, proximate cause, and/or recklessness, but all that should really be thrown out the window if the penalty contemplated is as gentle as taking away one's government-issued privilege to operate a motor vehicle legally.
the close case then becomes whether a car, traveling at the legal speed limit, which runs over a jaywalker in the middle of the block can be said to be in any way "at fault" ... if the jaywalker literally was trying to commit suicide, then i can understand answering the question "no" ... otherwise, i'd take away the driver's license.
I live and drive here in the city and know that it takes a whole lot of caution to be safe, from dodging jaywalkers to taxi doors. Accidents do happen but pedestrians and drivers alike have to realize that whenever you are breaking the law with jaywalking or running red lights, it's inevitable that something really bad is bound to happen.
Alla fine chi ci ha rimesso, é stata una giovane donna...ed ora...chi puó aiutarla a sopravvivere?
Solo le nostre preghiere...potranno salvarla...
Sabina Ti vogliamo bene...
Tieni duro!
Let's face it there are less than perfect citizens on on all sides of this argument from the drivers who block crosswalks and rush to make the yellow light, to the pedestrians who can't stay on the sidewalk and jump out mid street between parked vehicles, to the bicyclists who don't seem to understand that they have to follow the same rules as vehicles. Then factor in the Ipod's, cell phones, personal grooming, eating and its suprising there are not more accidents.
I am not saying that any one group is to blame but there are RULES for riding and walking. Lets get Transportation Alternatives to designate a day for all groups to abide by the "all ready in effect laws" and see what happens to the accident rate. It seems like the gang at Trans Alt would rather pit groups against each other by insinuating that walking and biking is morally more responsible.
sabina's still sleeping... but thank you for your prayers, viaggiatore and all. please keep them coming.
Sabina...
é quasi passato un mese,e ancora calde lacrime avvolgono il mio cuore... spero che presto tu ti possa svegliare...
Ogni bel giorno che io passo nella mia vita lo dedico a te da quando é successo questo terribile incidente, perché é quello che meriti, sei una delle poche persone che in pochissimo tempo ha toccato il mio cuore in modo profondo, e l'unico modo che adesso ho per esserti riconoscente, é quello di sognare per te un dolce risveglio...
Sabina ti voglio bene...
Ogni mia preghiera é per te Principessa....