Yesterday afternoon, a driver with a suspended license was backing up on Amsterdam Avenue to get a parking space and struck two women crossing the street at West 98th Street. Yolanda Casal, 78, was pronounced dead at the hospital while the other woman, her 41-year-old daughter Anais Emanuel, was in stable condition. A witness told the Post, "They had the right of way and that guy just kept backing up. He was trying to get that spot."
SUV In Reverse Kills Woman And Injures Another On UWS
Driver Crashes Into Brooklyn Storefront, Injuring Six
Yesterday afternoon, a woman driving on Avenue I apparently barreled down the road, jumping the curb, going through a bus stop on McDonald Avenue and finally crashing into a deli. A witness told NBC New York, "She was speeding. She was flying." Six people were injured, and another witness said to the Post, "There was one man who was totally drenched in blood, head to toe."
Cops Find a Bad Driver in Staten Island
Cops have arrested a Staten Island man after a car chase through Port Richmond on Monday. Andrew Gibbs, 30, ran two red lights at 60mph, jumping a curb and making pedestrians scramble out of the way. With cops in pursuit he ran into a bus stop, and then reportedly kicked out a rear passenger window in an attempt to escape. Cops were able to subdue him after blasting him with pepper spray, and soon discovered he was driving with a suspended license and a bag of marijuana in his pocket. Jackpot!
SUV Jumps Curb, Kills Woman Walking Grandson To School
Yesterday morning, a crash between two SUVs led to a 59-year-old pedestrian's death on Staten Island. According to the Staten Island Advance, after a Chevy Tahoe and Subaru Forester collided, the impact sent the Tahoe onto the curb at Slosson Avenue at Windsor Road, and into Beata Kurpiewski and 3-year-old Philip Kurpiewski.
Cabbie Who Fatally Struck Boy Has Many Moving Violations
On August 14, a cab driver struck and killed 8-year-old Axel Pablo who was crossing 112th Street near Lexington Avenue. While some witnesses said the driver was speeding and talking on his cellphone, police investigators reportedly found no evidence of Shaiful Alam being on his phone and did not charge him. Now it turns out that Alam has "an astounding 11 points on his license from July 2007 to July 2008," according to the Post, which adds, "Under state law, a driver with 11 points or more in an 18-month period gets an automatic license suspension. State officials could not immediately determine why that did not happen to Alam."
NYC, Finally The Worst Road Rage City In America
AutoVantage released its annual survey of the Best/Worst Road Rage Cities in the country and New York is at the top of the heap, baby! After polling 2,500 respondents in 25 major markets, NYC was found to be the least courteous, followed by Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Atlanta and Minneapolis/St. Paul (the more courteous cities were Portland, OR, Cleveland, Baltimore, Sacramento and Pittsburgh); Miami, which was the worst city for four years, slipped from the top five of least courteous cities! According to the consulting company which commissioned the survey, "New Yorkers were most likely to wave their fists or arms. They were most likely to lay on the horn and they were most likely to make some sort of obscene gesture." As for what respondents think causes road rage, they cited things like "Bad/careless driving, such as cutting others off, speeding, tailgating, talking on cell phones, making obscene gestures and not using proper signals," "Traffic problems, accidents, poor road conditions or construction" and "Inconsiderate, disrespectful, selfish drivers who think they own the road."
Survey Finds NY State Has Worst Drivers
According to GMAC Insurance's annual National Driver Test, drivers in the Empire State are dead last in the country. You can take the test here; New Yorkers scored an average of 70.5 while top honors went to Idaho and Wisconsin drivers, who received 80.6. NJ is second to last and California is fourth to last, with Hawaii in between. NY1's Roger Clark posed some questions to drivers—here's an exchange (spoiler warning, if you planned on taking the test): "Roger Clark: 'A traffic light with a flashing red signal means: A) Yield; B) Stop; C) Caution.' Driver: 'I think it's C. Caution, slow down. When I see it, I slow down.' Clark: 'Actually, you're supposed to stop.' Driver: 'You are? I do not stop.'"

