This happened about 10 minutes ago on Avenue B and East Third Street…
… it appears everyone is OK… Did anyone see what happened?
Photos by V.H. McKenzie
Saturday, January 18, 2014
This cab just got crushed on Avenue B
This happened about 10 minutes ago on Avenue B and East Third Street…
… it appears everyone is OK… Did anyone see what happened?
Photos by V.H. McKenzie
18 comments:
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honest, i only brushed aginast it!
ReplyDeletesigned, the hulk
I-)
A reminder to wear your seatbelts in the back of the cab. Those plastic partitions can do major damage to your face in an accident. I've seen quite a few, even at low speed. Buckle up!
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:26 - Great reminder for everyone. I remember seeing a photo of a woman whose face was quite simply destroyed after she smashed into that partition during a crash. Broken nose, jaw, damaged eye sockets, lost teeth... "Destroyed" is the only word I can think of to describe such horrific face injuries.
ReplyDeleteThat kind of damage does not happen if cars are going the speed limit.
ReplyDeleteAlso agree on wearing a seat belt, even if a cab stops short, which seems pretty likely given how fast they speed up to lights that are already red, you can whack your head on the partition pretty good.
I was at Coyi Cafe this morning and talked to two witnesses of the crash. They saw the whole thing happen. They said that the cabbie ran a red light and hit the pole. They were shaken, because had he not hit the pole, they said, he would have gone onto the sidewalk and hit them. There was a passenger in the back of the cab but when I walked by she had elected not to go in the ambulance.
ReplyDeleteI wish these cabbies--and drivers of any kind of vehicle--would resist the urge to speed. It's not worth the risk of getting into an accident and potentially harming or even killing someone. NYC ought to institute a slow down campaign, reminding everyone these are city streets--not highways.
ReplyDeleteIt makes you wonder, who was the individual at fault? I could see it was the rear that was taken out but was it the CABBIE who could have been at fault?
ReplyDeleteWhen are we going to see violations being issued to cab for the erratic, unsafe driving conditions they aspire to?
ReplyDeleteI can remember when there were almost no yellow cabs in the EV, if they dropped off a passenger down here they would all do a quick turnaround and head back up 1st Ave. We used to complain about how hard it was to get a cab but actually there was a benefit to having fewer taxis as the streets were safer without these yellow taxi terrorists rampaging around at high speed just to make an extra fifty cents per shift.
Last year, 173 pedestrians were killed in the city, and overall 286 people were killed in traffic accidents. We had 333 murders in 2013, which means for the first time you are almost as likely to be murdered as you are to die in a traffic accident.
This year 11 people have already been killed in traffic accidents, including 9 year old Cooper Stock, killed by a taxi last week while crossing the street with his father on West End Ave. That number doesn't include EV flower vendor Akkas Ali, who died this week of cardiac arrest when the breathing tube he required after being mowed down by a car slipped out.
Now that the yuppies are all moving in, gentrification has finally succeeded, and sushification will finish the job with tons of money pouring into EV retail and development. And with it come hordes of taxis just waiting to mow down the next bodega, light pole and pedestrian that gets in their way.
After 12 years of Bloomberg practically ignoring the problem, under Mayor De Blasio the NYPD is now investigating all crashes in which someone is killed or seriously injured. Previously, they only investigated when a victim was considered likely to die. Mayor De Blasio has said that more drivers involved in deadly crashes should be criminally charged,
Unless we rein in the taxis, and the city should put technology that automatically fines them for speeding in each cab, the EV will see more of the kind of carnage that killed Akkas Ali at the flower stand and kids like Cooper Stock.
"Unless we rein in the taxis, and the city should put technology that automatically fines them for speeding in each cab, the EV will see more of the kind of carnage that killed Akkas Ali at the flower stand and kids like Cooper Stock."
ReplyDeleteOne of the most ridiculous solutions I've heard so far. The speed limit is 30 mph, but have you ever actually driven a car in Manhattan? It is impossible to not break above 30 mph on a main avenue if you expect to keep up with traffic and not create a dangerous situation. So you'd have every cab driver in this city getting automated fines eleven times an hour? Sounds feasible to me!
To slow down taxis (not saying this accident was due to taxi speed) you need to get rid of the "initial fare" component of the taxi fare. The taxi guys love short trips because they get the initial fee just for turning on the meter. So the faster they can get you to the destination, the sooner they can get to flip the meter again.
ReplyDeleteSo you would have to raise the per mile fee and eliminate the initial fee.
And while we're at it, deduct 50 cents from the fare every time the driver honks the horn. If there's danger, he'll gladly pay the 50 cents. Otherwise maybe he'll shut the f up.
Mr. Toad's wild ride!!!
ReplyDeleteIs that Harry Chapin?
ReplyDeleteSo this is the yuppies fault. Hah, okay.
ReplyDelete"Please, if you don't speed, I will tip you well. If you speed, then no tip. Thanks for playing the NYC Experience!"
ReplyDelete@BT The horn honking idea is brilliant! Even if it was just a quarter.
ReplyDelete@Giovanni: I think there's too much focus on taxis whereas the issue is by no means restricted to taxis. Akkas Ali, whom you mentioned, was not hit by a cab but by a DUI driver in an ordinary car.
ReplyDelete@Anon 5:36 PM: The "unsafe to slow down" thing is bullshit. And 30 MPH on a city street is prior bullshit, that's way too fast to stop before hitting a kid who runs into the street (for example).
ReplyDelete@ Fahn Fahn Fahn Auf Der NYC Bahn ... I agree the dead pedestrian problem is not restricted to taxis, but they are the main source of the problem. I have been driving in NY since I was 16 and still own a car and drive regularly, I also call BS on the 30 mph comment, that is not a safe speed on most busy avenues, especially in the Village.
What I experience every time I drive is that the taxis set the pace for all the other cars, they cut and zoom into any open lane and floor it to the next red light or pack of cars. Other cars would be held back from speeding if taxis drove at a slower and more regular pace, as taxis usually comprise anywhere from a third to a majority on the avenues. Instead, when they zoom the speedsters zoom too, and there's lots of road rage with the taxis as they fight for fares, cut lanes, stop and turn suddenly, and honk at anyone who isn't speeding or getting out of their way.
I also cite the taxis because of all the bad accidents I have seen they have been involved in most of them and we're the cause, mainly due to speeding through a red light or not yielding at an intersection.
Taxis are also regulated by the TLC which has many undercover cars which pull taxis over all day and give them tons of fines for minor things like candy wrappers in the back seat, but not enough for reckless driving. The only way to stop reckless taxis is to start punishing the reckless drivers as well as the ones who cause accidents with their reckless driving.
You rarely see livery cars involved in these accidents or driving as recklessly because the drivers have to maintain better driving records, usually get a higher fixed rate per ride, and often own the cars, whereas the taxi drivers rarely own the cab these days, and are not even required to take a road test to get a taxi license, only a written test.
That's right, taxi drivers only take the regular drivers license road test, they receive no special training at all and do not have to take a special road test to see if they can chew gum and pull over for a fare at the same time Which is why so many of them are such bad drivers. Many of them drive with one foot on the brake and the other on the accelerator and pump them back and forth, which is why you get so nauseated in the back seat. Not to mention the usual mysterious taxi-specific odors smells. Riding in a NY taxi is like driving with Fred Flintstone.
The bottom line is that anyone who can pass the written test and make change for a $20 can drive a cab and terrorize as many New Yorkers as they please. And that's what they will continue to do until we fight back with much better law enforcement.
@rosrosa
ReplyDeleteYou write that the witnesses you spoke with said, "the cabbie ran a red light and hit the pole. "
THen why is the rear end of the cab all torn up?
I took these photos. No, I did not see the accident happen but clearly came upon it fairly quickly after it occurred -- no NYPD or other emergency services had arrived on the scene, or so it appeared to me.
The blue vehicle, shown in the left of the first photo, had significant damage to it's left front bumper. And the was crushed at the rear.
I don't see where the cab "hit a pole" -- but maybe I'm missing something.
I don't have a dog in this fight -- just wondering what actually went down here……...