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Yesterday morning, around 7AM, Queens resident Hope Miller was fatally hit by a truck turning right onto Houston Street from 6th Avenue. The driver, Roger Smiley, was fleeing the scene of an accident at Prince and 6th Avenue.
Miller had been crossing Houston Street, near a construction site. 1010 WINS reported that the impact "knocked her out of her shoes." Smiley was arrested and charged with "leaving the scene of an accident, driving under the influence of drugs and resisting arrest." He allegedly claimed that a seizure caused the first accident. The other driver in the first accident told the Post, "I was waiting for a red light, and [Smiley] just came up and hit me in the back," while he told the Daily News that Smiley had "red eyes" and looked drunk.
Miller was 28 years old and an aspiring actress. Her father said that she was on her way to acting class when she was hit by Smiley. Ivan Miller said, "She loved theater, so she decided to go to New York. She loved the city. She probably would have been there the rest of her life."
This is at least the fourth fatality (one at Houston and A, another at Houston and Elizabeth, and one at Houston and LaGuardia) along Houston Street in recent years. The Department of Transportation has been trying to improve Houston Street, but the massive project has become such a hassle and problem that City Council member Alan Gerson sued the DOT, Department of City Planning, Department of Design and Construction, and city itself, alleging that the project "constitutes a present and future public nuisance and health, safety, and welfare hazard to area and community pedestrians and to bicycle riders." Gerson told the Times the intersection of Houston and 6th is especially dangerous and that "There should have been a traffic enforcement agent there, especially at rush hour.”
Photograph of a familiar site on Houston - construction, blocked lanes
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That's one mess to navigate if that's a picture of the street she was trying to cross...
it isn't – that photo is from further east... near greene street. but the intersection where the accident occurred in similiarly nightmarish.
correction – mercer street. i see a piece of the angelica.
Its really a mess down there; Houston Street is more construction than street right now. When crossing Houston at 6th ave, its easier to go over to the West side of 6th ave and then cross the two smaller streets of W Houston and Bedford (over by the deli and fire station).
So the process of improving Houston street is a hassle? What did you expect?
I just got clipped by a car turning left 2 months ago. I fell to the ground bleeding and the car just sped off. If I was killed It would have been a hit and run for sure. Drivers are despicable. Luckily I just have scrapes and bruises that will take me another 6 months to heal. Why do people want to drive in the city? all the traffic and cars make them want to jump the lights and just push through crowds. Please don't drive. It takes more time to drive in manhattan and find parking than to actually walk.
gothamist should have a dead body marker on the google map so we know exactly where people died.
This is why you shouldn't jay walk or drive a car in Manhattan.
People drive in the city because it's a major urban center that attracts millions of people who need to get around. If you want to live some place that doesn't have cars, good luck finding it.
Cars are a fact of life just as pedestrians are so maybe everyone can just keep their eyes peeled and watch out for each other instead of clucking our tongues and doing a lot of useless Monday morning quaterbacking in anonymous online forums. A little more attention on everyone's part just might keep someone from getting killed.
Right turns kill.
she's just getting all method for an episode of csi or bones or some such shit
Such a tragedy and one that will no doubt happen again and again since people insist on driving in this city while drunk or drugged. Rest in peace Hope.
Why is everyone focusing on cars in the city when the major factor here is DRUGS and/or ALCOHOL and FLEEING THE SCENE OF A PREVIOUS ACCIDENT?
#13's got a point... the guy was driving like a bat out of hell because he just hit another car while he was ***driving drunk!!!*** and probably figured, "Wow, this isn't good..."
Speaking as a member of all three clubs, it's hard enough to get around when all the drivers/cyclists/pedestrians are sober. That's why this kind of stupidity and homicidal selfishness should be punished with extra severity in the city.
"I was waiting for a red light, and he just came up and hit me in the back," said Havana Washington, 34, of Brooklyn, who had been driving the truck that was rear-ended.
Not that there's much point in finding humor from a tragic situation, but when was the last time you heard of someone's name including two national capitals?
I live nearby and Houston and 6th is always tricky to cross. I often go up a block and cross to avoid it.
I actually just got a car cause I just moved to brooklyn but I since I still live in manhattan as well I need to pick some things up there. It's a nightmare!!!! I spent at least an hour looking for parking here and the trafiic is killer. Now that I'm on the other side I feel that a car in manhattan is not practical at all. It's actually more of a headache. So I think people drive in manhattan more for the fact that they want to show off that they have a car cause it defiinitely is not convenient unless you have paid 250 grand for a parking spot right outside your apartment.
i live right on that intersection of 6th and Houston and honestly, its been a nightmare for a while now over there and its only gotten worse.
They have basically now completely blocked that crosswalk spanning 6th ave on the south edge of houston. There is absolutely no space to walk over there and is completely unsafe. The turn from 6th ave to houston going east is this tiny tiny gap that all these cars want to go into, making really unsafe for pedestrians.
Including the noise, jackhammering, and trucks rumbling by, it really sucks to be there now. They originally said it would be complete by jan 2008, and now its pushed back to 2009? WTF?
there are too many cars in the city. some people need them, and that's totally fine. but sometimes the number of people who drive to work because they can - not because they really need to - is astounding to me in a city with such extensive mass transit.
"Why is everyone focusing on cars in the city when the major factor here is DRUGS and/or ALCOHOL and FLEEING THE SCENE OF A PREVIOUS ACCIDENT?"
Right, so he'd have been a safe driver if he was sober?
It's impatience, not so much drugs that makes this the issue. The guy couldn't wait to do his drugs sans driving just like many, many people in cars can't slow down or be more careful. You see it and hear it (horns) every day.
Simple solution...
BAN CARS
I live there. It's like a bomb went off, the construction's so bad. They put in a curb, then they cover up the curb, then they dig a hole over here, dig a hole over there. Shit is everywhere.
[13], maybe because a drunk or high pedestrian can't do as much damage? When was the last time somebody bumping into you knocked you out of your shoes?
hello "MT". no one is saying cars are not a way of life. no one is arguing your points at all. you say "a little more attention on everyone's part might just keep someone from getting killed." well when was the last time you were innocently crossing the street when a drugged up driver sped through your intersection? not much you can do as a pedestrian in that case.
i went to college with hope. she was a wonderful person. i pray for her and her family.
the entire construction on houston street has been very poorly planned. Hope was also killed by City officials who allowed such an unsafe construction to take place. SHAME ON YOU INCOMPETENTS.