This discussion is muddled.

1) Ms. Chaikin was crushed in the morning- not at night.

2) It seems the usual 'efficient' technique these harried workers use is to leave the passenger door open so the fellow emptying trash bins can run into the truck as it rolls along. This means the passenger door mirror cannot show the driver if anyone is on the right side of his truck. Ms. Chaikin saw a parked truck and was trying to pass it when- apparently- the driver accelerated, snaring her coat/scarf, and yanking her off her mobility scooter. (Exact details may never be clarified as liability issues will predominate.)

3) There is no law that forbids disabled people from using the bike lane; perhaps there should be. Near the play ground, it may be considered a hazard to small children to have a scooter on the sidewalk- there is no obvious solution.

4) NYC is full of people who have to be tough- city workers, pedestrians, bikers, the disabled, et al. Everyone struggles to get thru. This tragic event (Ms. Chaikin is in dire condition) must not be trivialized or disgraced with Know-Nothing rants. Ms. Chaikin is known for her immense kindness, caring for others, a friend to the community and an artist of note. Have some decency.

Please....... Pedestrians are permitted to walk just about anywhere. People in wheelchairs and/or "mobility scooters" are considered "assisted pedestrians". As far as your reference to "the law", no where does it state or imply that this handicapped person was violating the law. That would be like saying a person walking in the street is violating the law. I think not.

Also if most people on bikes were not violating almost every traffic law that they and motorvehicles are bound to observe( one way, redlight, stopsign, keep right, turn signal, yeild to pedestrian, sidewalk, etc, etc), there would not be "100's of people mowed down" by cars each year and there wouldn't have to be bike lanes.

Riding a bicycle is not absolution from good citizenry.

P.S. - I am an avid bike rider who believes everyone should follow the real rules and not the convenient or "made up to suit me" rules

You are complaining your puppy has been hit by a bike? Hundreds of people are mowed down by cars every year, many of which are speeding or involve a drunk driving. I myself have been hit multiple times on my bike -- seriously get some perspective.

It seems reasonable that the garbage truck was emptying the garbage bins along the park late at night. It doesn't really make sense to have to be on the other side of the autos, and to have to carry the garbage bins (which can be fairly heavy) past the bike lane, over the auto, to the truck, and then back again...repeat 200 times... (A parks department auto servicing the park) More over, late at night, the dark wheel chair without any sort of reflectors or headlamps. I think if it had been a bike with the appropriate reflectors this wouldn't have happened.

Personally I think bike lanes should be only for bikes, not mopeds, scooters or wheel chairs. However there seems to be a distinct lack of planning when it comes to the placement of some of the bike lanes. More over, I more often see bikes on the sidewalks than in the bike lanes. A motor vehicle has never hit our puppy, but two bicyclist have riding on paths in the park when there are countless signs indicating it's against the law. When asked to stop , you can imagine the response in NY.

Finally, the obstruction of traffic also creates a safety hazard as it also prevents emergency units from passing. This isn't justification, just an observation.

BTW, I think it's wrong for lots of people here to say it was "unfortunate." Fortune had nothing to do with it. It was negligence, inconsideration, immorality and perhaps even criminality on the part of the driver.

yes. i wanted more details.

Yesterday morning on Kent Avenue in Wililamsburg, Brooklyn at 8 a.m., I was almost hit by a city construction truck in the bike lane speeding down the wrong direction on a one-way street.

If the city is serious about giving us alternatives to polluting. It first needs to protect us from the people they employ.

I think I would rather have traffic inconvenienced than the elderly ran over.

It is unfortunate that this woman was injured, but what is up with people using the bike lane for motorized wheelchairs? Is that legal? I've seen this at least three times in the last two months and every time I think it's a disaster waiting to happen - particularly because I've seen them all at night. There's no reflectors or lights on those things!

I'd rather share them with wheelchairs than garbage trucks. Or SUV's, cop cars, etc.

I think it may have something to do with uneven surfaces on the sidewalk.

it's fairly obvious that she should not have been operating a motorized wheelchair in the bike lane:

http://www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/bike-vt.htm#sec102

this fact does not mean that she should have been hit, but merely that in most accidents there are factors at work besides just the driver--though it certainly entertains a lot of gothamist commentators to assume otherwise.

Please....... Pedestrians are permitted to walk just about anywhere. People in wheelchairs and/or "mobility scooters" are considered "assisted pedestrians". As far as your reference to "the law", no where does it state or imply that this handicapped person was violating the law. That would be like saying a person walking in the street is violating the law. I think not.

Also if most people on bikes were not violating almost every traffic law that they and motorvehicles are bound to observe( one way, redlight, stopsign, keep right, turn signal, yeild to pedestrian, sidewalk, etc, etc), there would not be "100's of people mowed down" by cars each year and there wouldn't have to be bike lanes.



Riding a bicycle is not absolution from good citizenry.

P.S. - I am an avid bike rider who believes everyone should follow the real rules and not the convenient or "made up to suit me" rules

Nobody's assuming anything like that. Is it controversial to point out that a garbage truck is more dangerous than a wheelchair? If it had been a bicyclist would the truck driver have seen him or her?

there is nothing new or controversial or interesting about your point: "You want to get away with murder in this town? Just use a motorized vehicle."

the fact remains, we need trucks to lug shit around in this town. besides motor vehicles there are also dog walkers, jay walkers, scooters, jugglers, smugglers, skaters, and pedestrians.

accidents will happen, do what you can to avoid them. take care of yourself. pay attention. get it?

Are you saying the woman was reckless for daring to ride in the bike lane? Would you be more sympathetic if it had been a bicyclist who was hit by the garbage truck? There is exactly one cause to blame for this accident: a motor vehicle was where it should not have been. Just because we "need" trucks does not give them carte blanche to drive anywhere they want. If the bike lane is okay for trucks, why not the sidewalk, too?

You are right, accidents can't be eliminated, but they are preventable and the responsibility cuts two ways -- vehicles should obey the speed limit, yield to peds, and stay out of bike lanes.

There's nothing new or interesting with your defense of people who break the laws and get away with it. So what? There are subtle differences between a garbage truck and a wheelchair.

Yes, we need trucks, but we don't need them in bike lanes.

they were both breaking the law dingbat.

Calm down, guy. Or dude or bro or whatever. Wheelchair users may be breaking the letter of the law, but not the spirit. I suspect not even that. Maybe Jaycjay can dig up appropriate federal, state or city law that supersedes that clause you dug up. Users of motorized wheelchairs and scooters obviously can't propel their vehicles under their own power. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a cop willing to write a ticket to a wheelchair rider using a bike lane.

...subtle distinctions...may be lost on some.