Results tagged “jaywalking”

Following the death of 22-year-old Seth Kahn, who was struck by a city bus on West 53rd and 9th last week, there's some talk about bus drivers texting while on the job. The driver in this particular incident was Jeremy Philhower, who had been suspended for texting and updating his Facebook with disparaging comments about his riders while behind the wheel. Last Wednesday, when he hit Kahn, was his first day back on the job — if NYC Transit concludes that he could have prevented the accident, they could file charges and fire him.

Yesterday morning a 22-year-old man was killed when an MTA bus struck him at the corner of West 53rd Street and 9th Avenue. He was rushed to Roosevelt hospital but was pronounced dead by 9:11 a.m.

Get ready for another NY Post expose on the jaywalking epidemic. It's being reported that a 22-year-old Bronx man was killed after being hit by a city bus while "darting" across the street. The Daily News notes that Luis Rivera was "crossing midblock when he was crushed by a Bx21 bus heading north on Boston Road in Tremont at 10:30 p.m. Saturday." They add that the bus driver was not drunk and has a clean driving record, but that Rivera was jaywalking.

You know the NY Post was just waiting for a jaywalker to be struck by a vehicle so they could be all "told you so," after printing numerous anti-jaywalking editorials this week.

The NYPD may have time to ticket folks drinking a non-life-threatening lager on their stoop, but they are way too busy to ticket jaywalkers. At least, that's what Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday, suggesting New Yorkers practice common sense when crossing the street illegally.

Are you a chronic jaywalker? Allegedly some cops don't even know how to write a jaywalking ticket — the practice is so widespread in New York that people rarely get punished for it until, as the NY Post points out, they are pinned beneath a double-decker tour bus. One former cop explains, "Jaywalking is an urban cultural issue. There are certain cities where jaywalking has been accepted for 50 years or more, so to stop it is like trying to stop the tide from coming in. You can't address the whole culture through policing."

Yesterday afternoon, a pedestrian crossing 14th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues was struck by an SUV. The Daily News reports that witnesses said the pedestrian, who was taken to St. Vincent's with "massive head injuries," was jaywalking. However, the SUV—a Range Rover—may have been traveling at a very fast speed. One witness told the News, "[The driver] was turning the corner. He had to be doing 60. He swerved to avoid the pedestrian, who was running for his life. He didn't make it. He just flew and was bleeding from the head."