June 20, 2006
After Taxi Clipping, A City Bus Pins Cyclist
A terrible accident in West Midtown: A bicyclist was hit by an M20 city bus that pinned his legs under a tire. And the bicyclist was just clipped by a taxi door! The accident occured near the intersection of West 44th Street and 10th Avenue, and a witnesses described the scene to the Post:
- "The gentleman was riding his bike and he hit the cab door when it opened. He was projected toward the bus. He hit the bus and rolled under and his leg got pinned under the tire. He was in bad shape."Emergency crews were able to get the bicyclist out, who was then taken to a hospital. If there's one thing drivers could do more, it's look behind them before they open their car door. Not that it will prevent all the accident, but it could stop some.
- "I was on the corner and I heard what sounded like a tire blowing out. I looked over and saw a man running between the taxi and a bus. He ran up to the door and banged on the glass and told the bus driver, 'Stop! Stop! There's someone under the bus!'"
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This happens all the time. People open their car doors without taking a look behind them. I've ran into several car doors on my bike. Luckily I haven't been seriously hurt. I hope this guy is ok. Wake up people and check for bikes before opening the car door!!!
marcus
Commence bike v. car flame war in 3, 2, 1..
You should never exit from a cab on the traffic side. Bicycles should never pass stopped cabs and cars on the curb side.
Is the cabbie being charged for dooring the cyclist?
It's not just bikes that people should look out for! Getting out of a cab on the street side is a good way to get clipped by another car.
There is a clear need in this city for more buffered and protected (ie separated from car traffic). Our Avenues are wide enough to accomodate both.
Here's how it would look - sidewalk, then bike lane, then small slab of concrete, then parked cars, then automobile lanes.
And it's not expensive at all. You just need political will. Please Mayor Mike and Dan Doctoroff - make our city safe for everyone - pedestrians, cyclists and motorists!
If I'm not mistaken it is illegal to exit a cab traffic side. Cabs can get fined for letting passengers exit this way. That's why they put signs in their cabs that say "Exit Curb Side Only" and some go as far as locking the doors until you are exiting curb side. Still, some people don't think.
You might want to rephrase the "If there's one thing drivers could do more, it's look behind them before they open their car door" as "If there's one thing drivers *and passengers* could do more, it's look behind them before they open their car door."
sounds like the passenger exited from the traffic side.
he's too important and needed to exit the cab as quickly as possible. Rules don't apply to him/her.
Bike lanes are pointless--people just double park in them. I vote they write more tickets for double parkers and use that money for better bike/pedestrian routes.
anon - that's the beauty of Glenn's suggestion - putting the bike lane next to the sidewalk but with a physical barrier between the bikes and the parked cars.
I was doored the other day, and I was actually in the bike lane. That mother f*in cab was parked in the bike lane, and his fare (numbnut) opened the door on the street side. I didnt get knocked over, but it scared the crap out of me. I AM SO SICK OF THE BLATANT DISRESPECT AND DIREGARD OF AUTOBMOBILES USING THE BIKE LANE FOR PARKING OR STANDING
I'd arm the cyclists.
Maybe a push-button weapon device for your bike like in James Bond.
(Switching to decaf in 3, 2, 1...)
Bikers are the biggst impediment to traffic flow in Manhattan.
yes, they are the biggst impediment to traffic flow
time to go key some kars.
where did that term come from? certainly not native New YOrkers, must be from suburbanites.
Larry, um no, CARS are the biggest impediment to traffic flow.
It is our god given right to drive big air conditioned suvs, and have no impediments to the traffic flow.
escalade 28:04
book of hummer
Only a homo would call a car a hummer.
It's a Humvee.
I saw the whole accident happen. It wasn't a passenger but the cabbie himself who clipped the cyclist. I believe he could get in trouble since he decided to double park instead of finding a spot. When I heard the "pop" I begged to got that was his head.. He started to move a bit when they rmoved him.......So sad.
Whatever its called, Only a jackass would drive a humvee to the grocery store
a suggestion, if you're opening a door into traffic: pop it open slightly first, so that it's just resting against the car, and then slowly push it open the rest of the way. Having the door slightly open at least gives the biker a heads up and a chance to avoid the thing. It's worth the extra 3 seconds.
Cars are stupid
what's the liability on a car door opener? Is it grounds for a civil suit?
I always run right into a car door when it opens. I never swerve to miss it. I just slow down, stay low, and brake as hard as I can and hope that I fucking slam into the person opening the door. With a helmet, it's pretty awesome cause you'll either cause serious body damage or fuck up that person's door. And another plus is that the person can't blame you for it. I once took out this woman's arm and she was crying and the cabbie was like "why you open door and no look?". It was sweet.
The law is pretty clear (as it was explained to me by a cop after I was doored): If you open your door into traffic you have broken the law. If anything happens because of your door you are at fault. Of course the same is true of double parking, but cops never ticket or press charges for these things even when deaths result (see Liz Padilla's story.) So I hope that the folks that are feeling pretty pro-car about this issue realize that nice people who are just trying to get where they are going are getting killed in NYC. Not just the bike messengers that you might dislike so much, but people of all types and backgrounds. People like you.
This is #2 problem, #1 is double parking and #3 is people walking about from between cars without looking. All these things cause cyclists to swerve INTO traffic to try to avoid you -- it is just a crap shoot at that point what will happen to them.
Oh, and the thing that impedes traffic more than anything else? People who have no business driving in the city. There are 100,000 trips made by bike in Manhattan on a business day. If those people were in cars you'd have a lot more traffic (studies show that even 10k fewer cars in Manhattan at any time would make a big difference) You should be thanking them. Personally I'd like to see a $5 city entry fee for autos entering Manhattan and see the laws enforced: if you kill a cyclist and you are at fault you should be charged with manslaughter. The police rarely if ever charge the motorists at fault for fatal accidents with bikes.
It's strange, when I am back in my hometown (which is (ahem) not NYC), I have to drive more than I do here (I don't have a car here) and when I drive, pedestrians annoy me. And when I am in NYC and walking, cars annoy the living hell out of me. But self-righteous cyclists with a Jesus complex bug me in both places and reading some of the above comments reminds me why.
That being said, I wish the victim a good recovery.
Charles (and it's not just you): You might give a thought to why cyclists annoy you in both places. Evidential in your message is the idea that the 'other people' bother you: as a ped you don't like cars and vice versa. Meaning that you might need to give the other guy some credit beyond the intuitive amount. For most people cyclists are the other guy.
Additionally, you should know that cyclists are generally more annoyed with peds than cars (they may be more afraid of cars) becaue Manhattan peds do a lot of things that are annoying an dangerous to cyclists. They bunch up at the sides of the road where cyclists are trying to sqeeze through, they jaywalk right in front of you, or cross against the light right in front of you, walk and hail cabs in the bike lane, etc. Cyclists are expert at avoiding accidents with peds in all these situations, generally at some risk to themselves (having to swerve into a traffic lane to avoid someone is a common and serious risk.)
For perspective you might keep this in mind: If you have an annoying close call or moment with a cyclist this is a rarity for you as a ped... it maybe happens once every few weeks at most, right? A cyclist generally has a dozen or more moments like that an hour with peds when they are downtown, but we generally forgive and forget right away because if we didn't we'd all be as angry as motorists. :)
Plus, when I ride my bike to work, that's one less person on the subway, which means more space for other people during crowded rush hour commutes.
The only near-death experiences I have had in my 18 years here have been from BIKERS. Those jerks never obey traffic rules and come out of nowhere. One dude almost hit me, I instinctively shoved him, and he wiped out on the steet, scratching his legs to a bloody pulp. I just shouted "you deserved that!" and went on my way.
hmm. Sounds like you are guilty of a felony, Larry. Not really the thing to admit if you are trying to win people over to your way of thinking.
Also, your close call was *very* unlikely to be a near-death-expierience: bike/ped fatalities are very, very rare. There has been 1 in NYC since 1994 vs 3000+ (yes, thousand) car/ped fatalities in that same time period.
It's a misdirected anger. As a pedestrian, you can't very well charge after a driver who has almost hit you. He has a distinct size advantage, being in his car. But a biker is an easy target, even if so few of them cause major accidents.
Larry, you should be grateful, GRATEFUL, that that guy didn't hit you. He needs to work on his aim. Now if he had that James Bond device...
Seriously, there are lots of my biking brethern who are jerks on spokes (like the guy who ran into me on the Brooklyn Bridge and sent me to St Vincent's earlier this month). I see lots of folks riding the wrong way, not using bike lanes, etc. Alas, the morons will always be with us. But think about it, when you are on foot, you are aware of the cars, when you're driving you're aware of the pedestrians. Bikers are somewhere in the netherworld limbo where no one is aware of them unless something stupid happens. Maybe the fault lies not in the spokes, but in yourself.
Besides, I'm not sure being NEARLY clipped by a bike compares with being doored, endoed, and crushed by a bus. But I am sorry you weren't there to yell "You deserved that!" at what was left of his mangled body.
Yeah, Larry's pretty oblivious to the irony, isn't he? "I hate bikers, who are all incredibly dangerous. But the only one who ever got hurt was a biker in a wipeout I intentionally caused." I bet the guy wasn't even that close to Larry. He probably just felt like being a prick that day, confirmed by his comment and his lack of concern for his fellow man. Anybody else might have helped the guy up and told him not to pass so close. Maybe if the guy had then gotten run over, Larry would still have been saying, "You deserved that!"
I did not "intentionally" cause his wipeout. He nicked me and as a reflex reaction I shoved him. That's hardly a felony.
so, you took him out Navy Seal style?
aye aye captain.
I've definitely had a number of close calls with people opening their car doors on me. I try to pay attention and basically just assume it's going to happen - that way I'm prepared in my mind.
As far as the a**holes in the bike lanes go, I just did the Time's Up "bike lane liberation ride" on Sunday... only one person refused to move his car when asked. However, it goes without saying that they shouldn't be there in the first place - but it's up to the NYPD to be handing out tickets to these folks and the other drivers that have NO RESPECT for bikers.
Oh and Robb: you made some excellent points in posts 25 and 27.
I am a pedestrian, and I can honestly say that the only times I have ever had close calls with bikes is when I did something dumb like walk out without looking :-/
Sorry guys.
Yeah, somebody "nicks" you and you get to take them down hard. Like it or not, that's assault, and probably battery as well. Not to mention reckless endangerment if the guy fell out into traffic. You're lucky you didn't get arrested. Your callous and obvious disregard for the welfare of the injured would have been another strike against you in court.
You know, most people wouldn't brag about this kind of hooliganistic behavior. So much for New York being the "most polite" city.
Two key reasons why people drive into the city instead of taking public transport: 1) poor frequency of the service, like Metro-North north of White Plains, and 2) lack of convenient subway service to many parts of the city.
There are some bikers who are jerks with no regard for anyone else, just like there are some drivers who are jerks with no regard for anyone else and pedestrians who...you get my drift. If you don't want to get hit by a biker it's generally very easy to avoid--look both ways before crossing the street (especially if you're coming out from between two parked cars), stay on the sidewalk when you don't have the light, and don't dive for the curb at the last minute or play in traffic. And if all of the above doesn't work and some biker still harasses you, I apologize--I assure you those people make my life pretty difficult, too, because people then generalize that I am also a jerk, even if I obey traffic laws (I do) and ride carefully (I do). If you wonder why bikers are so angry think of this: how many other commuters wonder every morning if this will be the day someone harms them--will I get hit by a car door this morning because some thoughtless person couldn't be bothered? Will a bus run me over? All of this just so I can get to work in the morning - just like everyone else. So cut us some slack.
I actually live across the street and saw this accident. I must give credit for the quick response time of safety and police vehicles. Amongst atleast 3 ambulances, I counted two firetrucks and a dozen police cars. They shut down a 3 block radius of the area for a couple of hours. I just hope the poor guy will be alright.
Cyclists-
Ride on the left hand side of the street whenever possible, passenger side doors open less often then driver side doors. Also, when passing cabs, listen for the tick tick tick of the receipt printer inside, if you hear it, it's a sure sign a door will be opening on the cab sometime soon. Adn don't ride between stopped cabs and the sidewalk ever, even in bike lanes.
Cyclists have very little moral ground to stand on when it comes to obeying traffic laws (I'm a cyclist and am guilty.) We don't obey most traffic laws (um, red lights, one way streets anyone?) A typical NYC cyclist will curse a cab for cutting them off and then proceed to cross eight lanes of traffic through a red light and make an illegal turn onto a one-way street through a throng of schoolchildren. We've all seen it.
Stay safe!
"The only near-death experiences I have had in my 18 years here have been from BIKERS. Those jerks never obey traffic rules and come out of nowhere. One dude almost hit me, I instinctively shoved him, and he wiped out on the steet, scratching his legs to a bloody pulp. I just shouted "you deserved that!" and went on my way."
You deserve about ten years in jail. FUCK YOU!!!
I nearly get killed while riding my bike every fucking day. I am also a professional driver who looks out for bikes gives them room to pass me and never doors them. I also never block an intersection, scare a pedestrian or a cyclist and always get where I need to go. So the problem it seems, with traffic and accidents in NYC has to do with STUPID FUCKING SELFISH DRIVERS!!!!!!!
Sounds like Larry has some anger management issues.
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