I live at 14th and 1st and am very familiar with that intersection. IT IS DANGEROUS! Like many of you, I am not sure of exactly what happened, but I do know that the walk light does not read walk for about 15 seconds to let traffic turn first. Most pedestrians do not realize this and just start walking causing near accidents all the time. I always stand there and wait for the walk sign. This may not have been the problem in this instance but I am sure it is a dangerous intersection none the less. Cabbies generally play chicken often not slowing for these crossers, often they are angry that people do not wait for the walk sign and push through.

I am a little shook up knowing that while I was sleeping, two young women having a fun night, were violently killed in the street just outside my apartment.

People that are judging them should rot in hell. This can happen to anyone and it almost happens more often than you would think. I saw 3 girls walk out into traffic at the same intersection about a year ago with don't walk signs and caused a car accident when the car slammed on its brakes to avoid them with the car behind smashing into the 1st car. The 3 girls screamed, then laughed and left the scene without even checking on the drivers. They left laughing!

So sorry for the friends and family. RIP!

Hundreds of people die every year struck by cars in this city - you read about two or three a week here on Gothamist. Walking has got to be the most dangerous mode of transportation in this city. I mean, diseases aside, it's also probably one of the leading causes of death.

I am a friend of Stephanie Dees from England. We knew each other since we were 2 or 3 and studied together throughout school until she moved to Prague.

Reading all your comments and seeing some people refering to my friend as a knucklehead I find disturbing. It easy to forget there are real people involved in this, its not just ink on paper. Who knows who was right and who was wrong. It was an accident, my friend paid with her life, the taxi driver will pay with probably the most haunting images imaginable. I feel a great loss and cannot get over my beautiful, clever, amazing friend not being here anymore.

My memories of Steph are amazing and one thing I DO know about this tragic ACCIDENT is this. Steph would have died laughing, her last few minutes on earth she would have been happy. I don't think anyone should blame the cabbies for this and certainly blame should not be pinned on my friend. All I wish is that this had never happened and that I could have come to Manhatten to visit her and not to mourn her.

When leaving comments on sites like this, you are all intitled to opinion and I respect that, I being extremely opinionated. But please, bare some thought for family and friends who may be far away trying to piece together what happened. Reading comments like some of the above is crucifying, on top of 2 day old news someone special is gone.

American cab drivers shouldn't be blamed but as in England too, the police should issue more fines,not just to drivers but to pedestrians too. If you shoot a light or step out on the road when the light isn't clearly green then you should recieve a fine.

The amber light is pointless. Go on green, stop on red. Walk, don't walk. Why have this blinking amber light for anything other than, prepare to go.

That the cab driver is not being charged is an absolute disgrace. The NYPD are scandalously lazy when it comes to dangerous driving in this city. They just want to class everything as an "accident" and have done with it.

You can hurl a truck around a corner at speed in this city, crush a 3 yr old kid to death and the cops give you a ticket for failure to yield and head off on their merry way to Dunkin Donuts.

Those who say it wasn't the driver's fault is crazy. Cabbies in this city are absolute scum - they drive around with 3rd world standards, often talking to their relatives on their phones at the same time. I see them speeding to beat lights all the time - often they just blow right through red lights. I don't even take cabs any more. You're being driven by people who are just not civilized.

I hope the families of these poor girls kick up a stink. It's about time cops did their job and charged dangerous drivers with vehicular manslaughter. Too many times I hear the line "witnesses say he was speeding to beat the light" and too many times I hear that line followed up with "the driver stayed on the scene and no charges were filed."

All you have to do is feed the NYPD simpletons a simple "it wasn't my fault" and that's good enough for them. Shame on the cops. Shame on the crazy taxi drivers who drive like savages in this city.

an absolute horrific tragedy... RIP.

If the light was turning yellow the cabs still have the right of way. Just because your a pedestrian doesn't mean you have the right of way all the time.

Section 1111 of New York's Vehicle & Traffic Law states,



1. Traffic, except pedestrians, facing a steady circular yellow signal may enter the intersection; however, said traffic is thereby warned that the related green movement is being terminated or that a red indication will be exhibited immediately thereafter.

4. Unless otherwise directed by a pedestrian-control signal as provided in section eleven hundred twelve, pedestrians facing any steady red signal shall not enter the roadway.

§ 1112.

Pedestrian-control signal indications. Whenever pedestrians are controlled by pedestrian-control signals exhibiting the words "WALK" or "DON'T WALK", or exhibiting symbols of a walking person or upraised hand, such signals shall indicate and apply to pedestrians as follows:

(a) Steady WALK or walking person. Pedestrians facing such signal may proceed across the roadway in the direction of the signal and shall be given the right of way by other traffic.

(b) Flashing DON'T WALK or upraised hand. No pedestrian shall start to cross the roadway in the direction of such signal, but any pedestrians who have partially completed their crossing on the WALK or walking person signal shall proceed to a sidewalk or safety island while the flashing DON'T WALK or upraised hand signal is showing.

(c) Steady DON'T WALK or upraised hand. No pedestrians shall start to cross the roadway in the direction of such signal, but any pedestrians who have partially completed their crossing on the WALK or flashing DON'T WALK signal shall proceed to a sidewalk or safety island while the steady DON'T WALK signal is showing.

Oh and for those non-drivers out there... a vehicle traveling 30 mph (speed limit in nyc)

takes 75 feet to fully stop.

Condolences too all those affected by this tragedy.

The driver of the first cab had "tunnel vision", speeding to make the green light before it changed. The two women either saw the cab from a distance and expected him to slow down/stop or more likely they were in a "party haze" and just walked/talked, ignoring the red light for them. In other words, there's blame to go around here.

Very tragic, but a way of life in this city where you have too many drivers rushing to nowhere and too many pedestrians who ignore rules & their environment.

The cabbies are liars. Why would they want to tell the truth? Maybe the first cab driver was texting. Either way, he didn't pay attention and has two dead women on him. One pedestrian you might miss, but two?

I participate with Right Rides, a free service that gives women/transgenders a free ride home Saturday night between midnight-3am (rightrides.org)

Everyone who says that drivers are maniacs and rushing through yellow light in the city is absolutely right, but pointlessly so. Short of a nuclear apocalypse, I don't see the city ever intervening to fix the situation. Look at how big Critical Mass is these days and even they have pushed a tiny amount of changes to favor cyclists in the city.

What I do see, as a regular, sober driver on the streets at 2am are idiot pedestrians (not to say these women were idiots, at all.) I've seen people literally running through busy traffic on 6th ave to get to their friends, people standing right out in the street on Broadway where there's no shoulder at all, and am constantly honking at people talking on their cell phones while crossing on red in front of oncoming traffic.

I hate cabs, and lately, party vans, who seem to have no concept of lanes, signals, other cars in general. As a driver, I'm constantly keeping an eye on all my mirrors and sides to makes sure that cabs don't try to merge into me. Throw into the mix pedestrians who seriously seem to have a deathwish...the other night I had a guy almost run into my car, broadside, because he was running into traffic while looking for his friend.

I understand being reckless in a car/cab when you may risk a dent or even an accident. But, I bumped a guy the other night who ran out between two slower moving cars into oncoming traffic, and he seemed so surprised and angry. If you run out on the road willy-nilly and a car hits you, you will seriously die. Horribly. People aren't cars.

@babyhitler, this was a brutal way to leave this mortal coil.

It's true, if you have to drive in the city on a friday or saturday night at like 2 or 3 am, people are so drunk and high that they will step out into traffic and not even look.

#24 Unless you want a 24/7 surveillance in the city or to charge people based on opinions, how about we just make sure we look both was before crossings? Just because it's a truckers so-called 'responsibility ' to not change into my lane and crush my car, doesn't mean I leave that responsibility solely up to him. The world is not all pillows.

It was obvious by the damage done to the first cab how fast he was racing to try to make the light. Plus, one of the newscasts reported that his passengers stated they were "rushing to a party in the Bronx."

Even if they did cross on a "don't walk," it's still ultimately the driver's responsibility to make sure no one is crossing (just as it would be a cyclist's responsibility to a pedestrian, or car to a cyclist). Since the cops have so conveniently overlooked this rule, hopefully the families will bring a civil suit against the first driver.

#17- they weren't brutally killed. It was a tragic accident, the tragedy is that it could have been prevented if they used their noodles but sadly they didn't.

There is no excuse for anyone being hit by a vehicle on these streets. Cabbies jump lights very often. Driving is a privilege, walking the streets is a right. If they don't jump a light, they're rolling forward before it actually changes. Want to play a game? Stand at a busy intersection and count the drivers going through Red (not Yellow) lights. At 5th Avenue & 45th Street. I once counted nine. I don't remember the last time I saw a cop writing a ticket for a moving violation to a cab or black car.

moral of the story, don't jay walk. just because everyone else does it, doesn't mean you have to.

#10, who said anything about it being "right"? It's just a fact that any pedestrian should take into account when crossing *anywhere* is all. I see plenty of pedestrians darting across the road against the lights on a pretty daily basis, I think a lot of people do that if they think no cars are coming, but sometimes people misjudge. Nothing to do with "deserving" or anything here - things are called accidents for a reason, or maybe in our litigious/retribution-hungry society the intense need to always cast blame overrules common sense.

driving in Manhattan at that time of night is awful - way too many drunk people and any of them do not look before they step out into traffic. I'm sure I've been one of them before, but since spending time behind the wheel I have a new respect for traffic signals. It is very hard to see darting pedestrians at night.

@babyhitler two people brutally killed and you pontificate... way to go!

#14 - deserves got nothing to do with it - best line from unforgiven.

a better rule of thumb is just to look to both sides before crossing the street. it won't matter what color the lights are. You know how many police cars, fire trucks and emergency vehicles routinely plow right through the green lights?