I wonder if speed was a factor (again).  The speed limit is 30 mph for driving on city streets, but at least one of those drivers was probably going well over the speed limit to cause that much damage.

probably. I live right near here and people are always racing up and down the hill on 145.

Who gives a flying fuck what they have to say?

Jen and guys.  I get that TA is an advocate group for both bikes and pedestrians.  I support their goals but  I don't feel an immediate statement is needed following a tragedy.  That's the part that feels ghoulish to me. 

It's always best to make a statement while the event is fresh in people's minds. The public has a very short attention span. Besides, if they waited to make a statement, then others might claim they don't really care and just do it whenever it finally suits them. They just can't win. Finally, death doesn't wait. Every minute TA isn't fighting for safety is a minute when someone else may die.

Spirit, needing something to be fresh in people's minds when you release a statment is another way of admitting you are not very persuasive.  I think it is tactic that reflects poorly upon the advocacy groups who rush to make these statements

So if someone had walked into that Metro PCS store behind the pickup truck in the picture and shot 6 people, killing one of them, would Bloomberg making a statement about gun control be ghoulish too? BTW, he's done exactly that almost every time there's been a multiple shooting in NYC for the last few years.

Drats. I hit the like button instead of reply.  Anyway, the point I was going to make is this: 

One event is an intentional act of violence while the other is an unfortunate accident.  I think they would deserve different responses. 

Also, I would like to point out that this is the Gothamist, using Bloomberg as a barometer of reasonable behavior is against the site's terms of use policy

Poor woman...

Transportation Alternatives and their horrible statement pretty much seals it for me.  Cyclists in New York are a bunch of...  I am so completely disgusted right now, I can't even come up with an insult.  So fill in the blank.  I feel terrible for the woman who died in today's accident. 

I know, right?  Imagine - they have the balls to say fewer people should die needlessly in preventable crashes!
You have good reason to be disgusted.

Why?  The organization also advocates for pedestrian safety, so why should they not release a statement? 

If I missed something in their statement that should draw ire please explain (not being sarcastic).

Am I the only one who feels it is inappropiate for Transit Alternative to issue a statement when a pedestrian dies?  Just because others are that ghoulish doesn't mean that it is okay for you to do  

The cycling issue gets a lot of attention, because of bike lanes, but TA has always been a strong advocate for pedestrians as well.

wanting to prevent deaths is inappropiate?

keep ticketing those scary cyclists.

At least I know what direction to look for cars, you don't see cars driving the wrong way down the street that often or on sidewalks.

funniest comment ever. you should NEVER see cars driving the wrong way down a street or on sidewalks yet I see it in NYC all the time. Cars Kill People when People Do STUPID things in cars. When they invent a 3-ton bicycle that someone other than Fred Flinstone can pedal, I'll listen to your foolishness.

Yeah, I've seen cars go down the wrong way down a street a number of times in my years here (one particular incident on Madison Avenue in broad daylight springs to mind).  Obviously bikes shouldn't do it (and SHOULD be ticketed), but the consequences of cars doing it are a lot deadlier.

Also, just as a side note: no one calls it "Powell Boulevard." It's "Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard."

More people were killed last year by falling branches in Central Park than by bicyclists. Which is to say, zero people were killed by bicyclists. Meanwhile, hundreds of people are killed every year by motor vehicles.