Absolutely amazing. AP reports that the driver in the above the incident has actually been carged with "vehicular manslaughter"—and held without bail.

How could this happen? Because an unborn baby was killed?

When, when, when, when will we say "enough is enough"? If we can ban assault rifles why on Earth can't we ban cars? From Gothamist, March 5:

According to the NYPD, the cop car that killed 24-year-old Japanese student Ryo Oyamada in Queens last month had its "emergency lights activated" at the time of impact. But at least one witness says he saw neither flashing lights nor heard a siren activated on the patrol car before it slammed into Oyamada, and that the NYPD bears far more responsibility for the fatal crash than Oyamada's distraught family has been led to believe.

Chuck Johnson, who works at Queensbridge sports lounge PDG Variety Store, tells us he saw Oyamada leaving a neighboring deli at 40th Street and 10th Ave, right before he was hit by the patrol car. "He came out of the store and by the time I turned back around... he was on the ground dead in 35, 40 seconds," Johnson told us. And though the police report states that the patrol car in question had its "emergency lights activated" at the time of the accident, Johnson insists that wasn't the case. "They never had sirens on," Johnson said. "They didn't put sirens on until two more patrol cars put on their sirens. There were no overhead lights on, none."

Johnson thinks the car was traveling upwards of 70 miles per hour, and he tells us it's common to see cop cruisers speeding in his neighborhood. "We've been talking about these officers, they're the same officers that race around the neighborhood in their police car," Johnson told us. "The speed this guy was going, you can get to the same spot at 30 miles an hour. Why do you have to be going 70 miles an hour in a residential neighborhood?"
 

From the New York Post, April 1:

Mother in coma doesn't know son is brain-dead after traffic accident in Brooklyn
A 2-year-old boy hurt when a car jumped a Brooklyn sidewalk is likely brain-dead — and his mother doesn’t even know, relatives said yesterday.

Wendy McLein, 37, was in a semicoma at Kings County Hospital, according to family members, who said her son, Denim, was brain-dead.

They were injured with 10 others when a car wiped them out at an East Flatbush bus stop Saturday evening.

Cops said the driver passed a breath-alcohol test and would not be charged.

She told investigators that her brakes failed before she plowed through a red light and jumped the sidewalk at Church and Utica avenues at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Little Denim’s aunt, Dierdra McCorkle, 51, wailed and fell to the floor when she got the news about her nephew.

"I'm devastated," she said yesterday. "Why couldn't God take me and let him live his life longer?"

McCorkle described Denim as a "bright kid" who learned quickly and loved to eat. She said the mom will be devastated when she learns the news.

"This is going to kill her," McCorkle said. "Oh, my God."

Once again, the grief of the survivors is presented merely as deconextualized pornography. When will it be recognized that this kind of journalism is mere exploitation, and that these casualties are victims of a political system, not of "accidents"?

From the New York Times, April 2:

Pedestrians struck by cars are most often hit while in the crosswalk, with the signal on their side.

Taxicabs pose a disproportionate threat to cyclists, who often compete for the same sliver of curbside roadway....

These are among the findings of a medical study of injured pedestrians and cyclists in the city, conducted by a team of trauma surgeons, emergency physicians and researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center.

From December 2008 to June 2011, the group studied more than 1,400 pedestrians and cyclists treated at Bellevue Hospital Center after collisions. Most occurred in Manhattan and western Brooklyn, stretching along the busiest corridors of a city where street safety and traffic engineering have been trumpeted as defining legacies of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's tenure...

One harrowing take-away from the report is that no area, it seems, can be entirely safe. Six percent of pedestrians were injured while on a sidewalk. Of those injured on the street, 44 percent used a crosswalk, with the signal, compared with 23 percent who crossed midblock and 9 percent who crossed against the signal.

From the Daily Mail, May 30:

Sunbather, 21, seriously injured after she is run over by a cop in pick-up truck as she slept on beach
A 21-year-old woman who was sleeping on a beach is recovering after being run over by a police patrol car around 6pm on Tuesday night.

Jessica Nystrom was left with tire marks across her body and was rushed to the hospital in a serious condition.

The police officer who ran over her in his pick-up truck said he felt a 'slight bump' and heard a woman swear.

Florida Highway Patrol investigators found Deputy Chad Biernacki was at fault in the accident on Miramar Beach, near Panama City.

The 30-year-old could face disciplinary action for the accident.

Officials said Biernacki was patrolling the beach when he came across a group of underage drinkers and issued them notices to appear in court.

After ordering the teens to leave he drove off - but did not see Nystrom asleep on the beach.

A report into the accident said he drove forward, turned right to make a U-turn and his right front tire rolled over the right side of Nystrom’s body.

Biernacki told sheriff's investigators he felt 'a slight bump' and heard a woman curse.

Amazing that she hasn't been charged with disorderly conduct for using foul language in public. The report says Nystrom had not been drinking. No word on whether Biernacki will face charges or even disciplinary measures.

From NBC New York, June 1:

Man in Wheelchair Hit, Dragged by Garbage Truck in SoHo
A man crossing a SoHo street in a wheelchair was hit by a garbage truck, knocked out of his chair and dragged Friday morning.

He was in stable condition at the hospital, officials said.

The 66-year-old man was crossing West Broadway at Spring Street when he was struck.

Authorities say the truck was stopped at a red light and began to move when the light turned green. The driver may not have seen the man.

Rescuers worked for several minutes to free the man from beneath the truck.

Police said no charges would be filed.

Of course not.

From AP, June 4:

Ariel Russo, 4, killed by car on Manhattan's Upper West Side
NEW YORK — A 4-year-old girl was killed and her grandmother injured when they were struck by a teenager driving his parent's SUV without a license on Manhattan's busy Upper West Side on Tuesday morning, authorities said.

The accident happened at 8:15 a.m., at West 97th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. A black SUV slammed into a restaurant on the ground floor of an apartment building, pinning Ariel Russo and her 58-year-old grandmother Katie Gutierrez against a gate, police said. As the vehicle reversed, the driver may have struck them again, police said.

The driver was believed to be going about 34 mph at the time of the crash, police said. The speed limit on New York City streets is 30 mph. The child was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The grandmother is in stable condition.

Police said the SUV, a Nissan Frontier, was stopped by officers about 10 blocks south when officers noticed reckless driving and wide turns from far lanes... Police said the 17-year-old driver, Franklin Reyes, was arrested on charges of manslaughter and vehicular manslaughter and was hospitalized after complaining of difficulty breathing.

And from CBSLA, April 17:

3 Injured After SUV Crashes Into Fast-Food Restaurant
SANTA ANA — A family of three were injured Wednesday after an SUV crashed into a fast-food restaurant in Orange County.

The driver of a white Ford Expedition was attempting to get behind a school bus when he lost control and scrapped the back of the bus around 12:30 p.m. The SUV, going about 10 mph, then jumped a curb and slammed into the Big K’s Burgers restaurant at 1320 W. First St., officials said.

A man and woman in their 30s and their 5-year-old daughter were sitting at a table when the vehicle crashed into the building. The man was trapped under the SUV, while the woman and her daughter were thrown and struck by debris. All three were transported to a local hospital in stable condition.

When, when, when, WHEN will we put an end to this?

For all the talk about banning guns, why is there no talk of banning cars? Why?

More jaundiced reporting in which it is assumed the problem is the that the driver was high on drugs rather than that he was behind the wheel of an automobile. From WNYC, June 18:

Man Arrested After Car Jumped Curb in East Village
A Queens man who was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol was arrested after his car plowed onto an East Village sidewalk and injured eight people Wednesday morning, police said.

Shaun Martin was behind the wheel when his car jumped a curb, smashed through a tree, a telephone booth, bicycles, a parking kiosk and a flower stand near 4th Street and Second Avenue, police said.

Three pedestrians and one Citibike cyclist were among those injured.

Miguel Lopez, who works at a diner a block away, says he heard what sounded like an explosion and rushed out of his restaurant.

"I see the white car in the middle of the street, all bags down, the trees, the hydrant in the corner, two people hit by the car were on the floor, where the flowers and everything were," he said.

Another witness, Najava Stone, says people were hurt by flying debris. He says the car spun before landing in a crosswalk.

The victims are being treated at Bellevue Hospital.

Of all places. Today's New York Post carries a very vindicating op-ed by one Nicole Gelinas of (again, of all places) the elitist Manhattan Institute. We don't necessarily endorse her proposed solutions, but the case she makes against the dominant pathology is spot-on. We take the liberty (cut us some slack, Murdoch) of reprinting it in full:

Stop the killing
. . . on the city’s deadly roads
Sixteen-year-old Renee Thompson lived in one of New York’s most crime-plagued precincts — The Bronx’ Morris Heights, with five murders this year. But she died a gruesome death in one of the city’s safest neighborhoods — Manhattan’s Upper East Side — under the wheels of a big rig.

Violent traffic deaths like Renee’s are not fateful accidents. They are preventable outrages. But will the mayoral candidates get outraged?

After her shift at Dylan's Candy Bar on Wednesday night, Renee stepped into the crosswalk. The driver of a 19-wheeler turning right from 60th Street onto 3rd Avenue didn’t see her. "My little sister was hit by a truck tonight," her brother, Greg, wrote on Facebook. "She didn’t make it."

Renee Thompson, 16, was killed by a truck in Midtown on Wednesday.
Greg joins the families of 72 other pedestrians killed this year through June — and 148 all last year.

Before Renee, three pedestrians died on the Upper East Side in 2013. If they’d been stabbed to death by strangers, the city would be up in arms.

To his great credit, Mayor Bloomberg cares about traffic deaths — and has reduced them, from 193 the year before he took office. In all, the 23 percent reduction in yearly pedestrian deaths has saved 300 lives.

He built on what Mayor Rudy Giuliani started: 1990 saw 284 pedestrians die.

But as with other violence, it gets ever harder to keep reducing it. Where Giuliani focused on drunk driving, Bloomberg has focused more on the streets.

The pedestrian plaza around Herald Square has drawn plenty of complaints. But during Christmas week 2001, a van crashed into the old Herald Square — then one of New York's most dangerous intersections — killing seven.

After the mayor closed Broadway, pedestrian injuries there fell 53 percent. Injuries also fell on Eighth and Ninth avenues after the city installed bike lanes. (A bicyclist is as likely to kill you as your elevator is.)

The intersection where Renee died is still just an open road — no islands or other safe havens for pedestrians. The city's priority for this intersection "isn't allowing pedestrians to cross safely — it's moving large volumes of vehicle traffic quickly," says Juan Martinez of the street-safety group Transportation Alternatives.

Still, Bloomberg also should do more of what Giuliani did — focus on people (speed cameras, just approved by Albany at the mayor’s request, will help).

The driver whose truck killed Renee, Henry Panama, brought a deadly weapon onto dense streets. Yet he hadn't registered the vehicle. Nor did he yield or "exercise due care," according to police. His truck looks to be missing a right-side mirror, too — a device that helps keep pedestrians alive.

For that, he gets tickets.

Yet bringing a truck into the city that is unsafe by definition (the driver can't see), then hitting someone, should be criminal reckless endangerment with serious prison time, at least.

Bloomberg also ought to direct the police to enforce smaller traffic crimes before they cause deaths. Thursday morning, not 12 hours after Renee died, 34 cars and seven big rigs ran the intersection’s two red lights over just 15 minutes.

By not enforcing the law, the city is allowing deadly behavior. In the precinct, police have given out 27 percent fewer tickets for dangerous driving this year than last.

There are other ways of preventing fatal crashes. Sam Schwartz, the city's Koch-era traffic commissioner, says the City Council should pass a law requiring rear-wheel guards on trucks — so when a person is hit, she's thrown, not run over.

And the city's tech whizzes should think about motion or contact sensors for trucks. Greg, Renee’s brother, says his girlfriend "is actually working on that" at the University of Arizona — that is, "working on making cars [and trucks] smarter to prevent things just like this. . . It’s a shame my sister couldn't reap the benefits of a world full of extremely smart technology."

Whose lives would this save?

Elderly people and children, mostly. In Manhattan, the elderly make up 18.7 percent of the population but 37.6 percent of people killed, says the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. And in East Harlem, children make up 30 percent of the population, but 43 percent of victims.

"It's almost always short people," says Schwartz.

The next mayor should continue what Bloomberg has done (even if some people don’t like it, as some dislike stop and frisk).

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has pledged to cut traffic deaths in half by 2021. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio wants Albany to let the city decide how many speed cameras it needs. It would be nice to hear something from the Republicans (and other Democrats).

Saving lives is saving lives — whether you're punishing a reckless gun-toter in The Bronx, or a reckless driver in Manhattan.

Of course, "speed cameras" just expand the surveillance leviathan and are ultimately another distraction from the absolutely inevitable challenge if the planetary biosphere is to survive... BANNING CARS.
 

From Streetsblog, Aug. 6:

All too often, a New York City driver jumps a curb, strikes a pedestrian (or 10), and is on his or her way without so much as a traffic ticket. If the motorist is a repeat drunk driver, or if the crash kills a teenager, it might grab the public’s attention for a moment. But usually, victims are transported to the hospital, debris is swept away, and as far as police and prosecutors are concerned, all is forgotten. No investigation. No arrests. No summonses.

Shortly after 6:45 p.m. yesterday, police say a woman driving a minivan on Boston Road in the Bronx was cut off by another driver near Corsa Avenue in Williamsbridge. She swerved onto the sidewalk, crashing into four storefronts and injuring two pedestrians, who along with the driver were transported to Jacobi Medical Center with injuries that were not life-threatening, according to FDNY.

Because no one was killed or seriously injured, NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad did not launch an investigation. A police spokesperson could not say whether the second motorist stayed at the scene or drove off. NYPD did, however, tell Streetsblog that there is “no criminality” and that no summonses were issued. No summonses for passing unsafely. No speeding tickets.

From Streetsblog, Aug. 8:

Misdemeanor Charge for Accused Unlicensed Driver in Death of Queens Senior
A motorist who allegedly killed a senior while driving without a license, who police said was speeding, and who was reportedly wanted by authorities on another vehicular charge at the time of the crash, has been charged with a misdemeanor by Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Rafael Diaz, 73, was crossing Atlantic Avenue in Woodhaven at around 7:30 p.m. on May 16 when he was struck by Joel Rodriguez, according to reports. Diaz died at Jamaica Hospital. The Forum reported that an officer from the 102nd Precinct said the vehicle that hit Diaz was traveling “in excess of 60 miles per hour.”

Online court records say Rodriguez, 25, was charged with driving without a license and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third degree, a misdemeanor that stipulates that he drove without a license when he knew or should have known he didn’t have one.

The Post reported that, according to Brown’s office, Rodriguez was wanted on a warrant issued in April for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle — taking or operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent.

Despite the allegation that he was driving without a license, the police account that he was speeding, and the outstanding warrant, Rodriguez was not charged for killing Rafael Diaz. This is not unusual. In 2011, two unlicensed drivers each pled to a top charge of third degree aggravated unlicensed operation for the deaths of Yolanda Casal and Laurence Renard, pedestrians killed in separate crashes in Manhattan. In each case, the driver was fined $500.

Rodriguez is next scheduled to appear in court on October 10.

From the Daily News, Jan. 2:

75-year-old man struck and killed crossing street in Brooklyn
The man was crossing in the middle of Seventh Ave. near 65th St. in Bay Ridge when he was hit by a green Toyota Camry that slid forward after being rear-ended by a red Jeep Cherokee. Police said that Thursday's weather could have played a part in the accident.

From CBS New York, Sept. 9:

Brooklyn Bus Accident Leaves 41 Injured
More than three-dozen people were injured Monday afternoon when a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus collided with a car in Brooklyn.

The accident happened at 4:40 p.m. at Albany Avenue and Herkimer Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of the borough, authorities said.

In all, 41 people were injured, including dozens on the B15 bus, the FDNY told CBS 2. They were taken to area hospitals. Some people in the car were also hospitalized with injuries. Twelve were seriously injured, while the remaining 29 suffered minor injuries, authorities said...

A witness told CBS 2’s Lou Young the driver of the car was fleeing authorities and ran a stop sign. At that point, the car was hit by the bus, the witness added.