Results tagged “speeding”

Yesterday morning, an out-of-control car crashed into a Queens bus shelter in Douglaston, injuring seven people, not to mention the shelter. One person had two broken legs, while four other also suffered broken bones. And the apparent explanation for the havoc? The Post reports, "Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the car hit a puddle and hydroplaned into the shelter."

     

Three people were injured when a cab driver somehow drove his SUV into one of the West 72nd Street subway entrances—after jumping the curb and driving through the wrought iron gates— yesterday afternoon. The injured included the driver, his passenger and a pedestrian. The police say no charges are going to be filed in the incident, but one witness told NY1, "The driver was sitting on the floor and he was asked if his breaks failed. And he said yes. But there was no way his [brakes] failed."

Just before 3 a.m. this morning, a Honda Civic crashed into a tree off the Wangtagh Parkway, south of the Sunrise Highway, killing the driver and passengers, one who had been sitting in front and one who had been sitting in the back. A fourth person, a woman who had been sitting in the backseat, was taken to Nassau University Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. 1010 WINS reports, "Police believe that the car was speeding and lost control as it went around a curve in the road, slamming into a tree. Open and unopened beer cans were found inside the car, but it is unclear if alcohol consumption played a role in the crash, police said." The parkway may be partly closed due to the investigation.

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."

A new study conducted in all five boroughs determined that 39% of drivers observed were traveling in excess of the 30 mph speed limit, some with fatal speeds of 60 mph and higher in school zones and other high-traffic pedestrian areas. Transportation Alternatives researchers recorded motorist speeds at 13 locations in 2008; the spots were chosen based on community complaints, as well as crash records compiled on Crashstat.

A 45-year-old woman was killed in a hit-and-run incident in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. WABC 7 reports that Stacey Blount, "a long-time customer at a hair salon at Mother Gaston Boulevard and Sutter Avenue," "had taken her two children in to wish everyone a happy 2009 and then walked out around 7:00 p.m." When she stepped into the street, a van (which seemed to be going ) hit her. The police had apparently been "following" (but not chasing) the van, which was later found abandoned. Blount was pronounced dead at Brookdale Hospital. Two other people died in vehicle-related incidents: A woman in Queens was fatally struck by an allegedly drunk driver while a man in Brooklyn was dead after an accident on Third Avenue.

The family of Judy Bucherri are wondering why she threw herself from a speeding SUV to her death on Friday night. Bucherri had been in the car with her boyfriend Sandy Levine, who was later charged with DUI and marijuana possession (the cops found a pound of pot in the car), and inexplicably, she jumped out.

A high-speed boat race in Great South Bay turned deadly when two men died after their boat overturned. The men were pronounced dead at the hospital, and the incident occurred during the "Battle of the Bay," for the second event of the MIss Geico Triple Crown. An investigation is being conducted, but Newsday reports witnesses said "the boat appeared to overturn while it made a southeastern turn on the race course." Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri, who witnessed the race, said the boat was going 90-100 mph, "It's just tragic ... It doesn't get any worse than this. It's a dangerous sport."

NJ Attorney General Anne Milgram was issued a ticket for driving 69 mph in a 50 mph zone on Route 1 in New Brunswick. Milgram, in a 1994 Honda, didn't identify herself as AG and the officer only realized who she was when he returned to the department. Milgram won't fight the $176 fine (also 4 points on her license), "I made a mistake and know what I did was wrong. I take responsibility for driving too fast." (When her boss--NJ Governor Jon Corzine--was critically injured in his speeding state trooper-driven SUV, Corzine paid a fine for not wearing a seat belt.) The Star-Ledger noted that Senate President Richard Codey said, "The fact that the attorney general drives a '94 Honda proves without question she is a woman of great integrity and frugality."

A former FedEx worker turned state trooper is accused of writing phony speeding tickets to get back at a man he had an argument with over a parking spot. The ticketing revenge allegedly began after office Lester Hooper (pictured), an East Flatbush resident who patrols Westchester, and his wife became outraged at a neighbor, Derrick Perry, for not moving his truck back in January.