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Photo by Ethan Sprague
There are some more details coming out about the truck that hit a woman in a wheelchair on Bleecker and 8th yesterday. The Daily News reports that the victim was 78-year-old off-Broadway actress and playwright Shami Chaikin, who was "riding her motorized wheelchair in a Manhattan bike lane" and was hit by a city garbage truck.
Locals told the NY Post that cars and trucks often use the bike line and endanger others by doing so; one telling them, "I don't feel safe in the bike lane. He had no business being there." A witness told NY1 that "She didn't cross the street she was just on this bicycle path. And apparently thought that the truck had stopped for a while and she probably thought she could drive around it but he must have pulled away without seeing her."
As of last night she was awaiting surgery and in critical condition with head injuries at St. Vincent's Hospital, and the driver has not been charged.
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You want to get away with murder in this town? Just use a motorized vehicle.
Oh, that's so unfortunate.
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.
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?
while it is unfortunate she was hit and the garbage truck in a bike lane is rather unsafe, what else can a garbage truck do? if they ride the car lane, they risk backing up traffic while also having to repeatedly cross the bike lane to do their job. in any scenario, she would've been much better off on the sidewalk.
What they're supposed to do is drive in the motorized vehicle lane, stop near the garbage cans and bring the trash to the truck. If they'd been doing that no one would have been hurt.
I think people's safety is more important than how fast traffic moves, but maybe that's just me.
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?
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.
...subtle distinctions...may be lost on some.
blather indeed.
I can't take this war of words!
let's just all sit down and have tea and crumpets.
regarding the wheelchair I do not have much to offer, except that maybe they should put reflectors on them and that this whole thing reminds me of that Seinfeld episode (except more tragic)
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.
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.
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?
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
I think I would rather have traffic inconvenienced than the elderly ran over.
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.
yes. i wanted more details.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.