Readers: Biker to blame in Park Slope crash
COURIER LIFE, J M BR B G ULY 19–25, 2019 41
A box truck collided with a
cyclist in Park Slope Tuesday
morning, leaving the biker unconscious.
Surveillance footage shows
the Citi Bike rider heading north
along Fifth Avenue at shortly after
7:40 a.m., when a southbound
delivery vehicle strikes him as he
attempts to turn left onto Warren
Street.
The biker was directly behind
another northbound truck when
he attempted the ill-fated turn.
That vehicle appears to have obscured
the biker from the truck —
and vice versa, footage shows.
Following the collision, a
woman can be seen attempting to
communicate with the cyclist, who
is either unconscious, or incapable
of rising to his feet, surveillance
footage provided courtesy
of Fifth Avenue eatery Miriam
and Milan Optique shows.
Paramedics transported the
unconscious man to Methodist
Hospital in Park Slope, according
to a spokesman for the Fire
Department, who could not provide
any additional information
regarding the cyclist’s condition.
A spokesman for the Police
Department said medics transported
the cyclist with only minor
injuries, and that the accident
is being investigated by the 78th
Precinct.Readers blamed the bicyclist
online:
I say get rid of the bike lanes.
Seems like every entitled snob in
nyc has a vendetta against cars &
trucks. Let me ask you this, how
will you be able to get all of your
everyday items & whatnot without
them? Somebody from Somewhere
I say you’re an idiot. Bike lanes
aren’t going away, in fact more and
more will come. You and everyone
else needs to adjust to a changing
environment. If you cannot adapt,
leave! That’s what our racist idiot
president says.
Local from Here
How is this the truck drivers
fault? The guy on the bike made a
left turn without checking to see if
there was oncoming traffi c.
Me from Flatbush
It’s clear as day it was the bicyclists
fault. He did not bother to
look before turning. If you want to
share the streets with motorist who
pay insurance then you must follow
the same rules. Yield to crossing
traffi c. Yield when changing lanes.
Speed positioning. Lane positioning.
Intersection positioning and
follow all street signs, signals and
markings.
Long time resident from Park
slope
The Rules of the Road that Cyclists
Need to Know RULE: YIELD
TO PEDESTRIANS OR OTHER
VEHICLES ALREADY ON THE
ROADWAY. RULE: RIDE IN THE
SAME DIRECTION AS THE FLOW
OF TRAFFIC. RULE: DON’T RIDE
ON THE SIDEWALK. RULE: OBEY
ALL TRAFFIC SIGNALS AND
SIGNS. RULE: YIELD BEFORE
TURNING OR MOVING TO THE
LEFT SIDE OF YOUR LANE OF
TRAVEL. RULE: ALWAYS USE
HAND SIGNALS
Ben from Brooklyn
I ride my bike daily and support
more bike lanes and fewer cars in
our streets. But this is the bicyclist
fault 100%, how can you make a left
without even looking??? Even the
blue car could have crushed him!!!
Fer from Fort Greene
Take your rules and shove them.
I’m saving the earth and can do
whatever I please. All you people
walking better stay out of my way
or I’ll run you over and leave you
with astronomical medical bills.
Cyclist from Here
Typical city practice. First you
introduce bicycles to city streets
in huge numbers without preparing
motorists to coexist with them.
Defensive driving course offers virtually
no instructions how to deal
with bicyclists. Some close minded
people continuously blaming the bicyclists
for any and all incidents but
you wouldn’t blame a child for running
into the street between cars
because you expect a motorists to
look for things like that while riding
through very populated areas.
Same goes for bicyclists. Many bicyclists
don’t own drivers licenses
so they were never prepared to
share the road with cars. The city
must wake up because if they don’t
do something about educating bicyclists,
you could be assured that
many more victims will follow.
Bob from Gerritsen Beach
Warren St begins at 5th Ave, and
runs west towards 4th Ave and in
the direction of Manhattan. So the
cyclist is the one who made the left
turn, across 5th Ave, in front of the
southbound (SB) truck. There was
no mention of a traffi c control device
(stop sign, traffi c light, etc.) controlling
this intersection, so the cyclist
is the one who failed to yield. It was
not clear, from the article, exactly
WHO made the left turn, so I had to
resort to Google Maps. We should
not automatically assume that the
motorist is Always to blame.
Wilbur D. Horse from
Banannadale
We bicycle riders have to remember
that we are invisible. We weigh
200lbs to 300 lbs with our bikes, a
truck like that weighs 5+ tons. It
didn’t look like there was anything
the truck could have done to avoid
the bicyclist. When you’re riding
a bike you have to be extra careful
not to become visible at the wrong
moment. Michael from Park
Slope
“Bike lane”? That’s a stretch
where motorists and cyclists are
supposed to “share”. Here everyone
is probably at fault: a cyclist needs to
know s/he is seen before attempting
a turn across an avenue, and drivers
also need to keep their eyes open.
Janet from Park Slope
It sounds as if this biker, like so
many, caused the accident. I agree
woth Sage that it’s well nigh time
bikers are required to pass written
and road tests to earn a license,
that they have to pay for and have
to carry insurance. Drivers are
the victims of biker arrogance and
ignorance. Regulate biking at the
DMV or create a DBV to control bikers.
Wally from Fort Greene
Keep out of the sun!
I retired from the Federal Government
(DOD), in October 1996. My
wife, our four kids had gone on vacation
twice to Hawaii. I went there
by myself to see if I wanted to live
there. My wife is from Thailand and
she loved it there, as the people and
weather are like Thailand. Our kids
graduated from college, so nothing
was holding us here on Long Island.
Well, to get to your article on Skin
Cancer, I’ve had, so far, 16 bas cell
and two squamous cell cancer. We
lived in Waikiki; a ver short block
from the beach. In the ten years that
we lived there, I was at the beach almost
every day.
It got so expensive that we had
to leave. We moved to Las Vegas for
another ten years and we moved to
Brooklyn in 2016. IN vegas I wasn’t in
the sun so much, si I think I’ve gotten
all my cancers from Hawaii. The
motto of this story is keep out of the
sun. Thank you. Fred Cavainolo
Kensington
The New York Waltz
It is true New York has many
fl aws
but we should take time to pause
and dance to the New York Waltz.
While there have been many plots,
New York has never ceased to be a
melting pot.
So we need to dance to the New
York Waltz.
While some people are overstressed,
and not everyone can be blessed, we
should dance to the New York Waltz.
From 1777 with its fi rst Founding
Father, and fi rst governor of New York
State, George Clinton to the present.
All may not be heaven, while there
are many elements that are not so fi ne,
and not everything is divine, we are
still better off to dance to the New York
Waltz.
While the State Senate and Assembly
Judiciary Committees aren’t extremely
diligent, which is truly a pity,
we are best to dance to the New York
Waltz.
To go to California or Oregon now,
there may be more earthquakes and
how!
We are still better off to dance to the
New York Waltz.
While it may never be its fate, for
New York City and New York State to
become the safety capitols of the world,
we should still dance to the New York
Waltz.
With all its corruption, not to mention
disruption, we should dance to the
New York Waltz.
With all its faults, we are still better
off, to dance to the New York Waltz
Poem by Elliot Abosh
Brighton Beach
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