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Enough is Enough

August 20, 2013

Quick thoughts…

Today’s carnage in Midtown is sickening, but all too predictable.  (The fact that the cab driver responsible probably won’t be charged, and that no one is surprised about it, is all the more disgusting.)

If ever there was an incident that encompasses the very things we pedestrians and cyclists experience from aggressive motorists every day, this is it.  While there are conflicting reports from various sources, witnesses described a driver who…

  • …cut off a cyclist in the bike lane, with or without looking to see if anyone was there, even though it shouldn’t be surprising to find bike messengers or delivery cyclists in Midtown.
  • …couldn’t be bothered to wait one second to let the cyclist — who had the legal right of way — proceed straight.
  • …violated the crosswalk even though it was full of pedestrians with the walk signal.
  • …thought that the proper response to this temporary inconvenience was intense anger, honking, and yelling.
  • …believed that being delayed by one second gave him the right to floor it to make up for “lost” time.

And here’s the most important part:

  • …did it all with what by now can only be described as the tacit approval of the NYPD, whose failure to enforce even basic laws regarding yielding to other human beings results in this carnage.
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4 Comments
  1. twopedalsacouplepints permalink
    August 22, 2013 6:04 pm

    You never know when the operator of a motor vehicle is going to snap. When I get cut off by turning cars I let them know about it. This is a reminder, however, that we need to make sure that the person with whom we are arguing is no longer in a position where they can hurt us. What an extremely sad, enraging and depressing story this one is.

  2. D. permalink
    August 23, 2013 6:01 am

    The BBC here in the UK is now saying the girl’s leg couldn’t be saved, and that the taxi driver has been issued with a summons for being an “unauthorised driver of the vehicle”. One of our lesser newspapers decided to run the story by blaming the cyclist who was involved. Terrible, terrible incident, and I hope your police do go after the taxi driver.

  3. joe permalink
    August 23, 2013 3:36 pm

    same can be said of joggers and bicyclists who not as prominent as motorist tend to believe they have the rights more than pedestrians. Overall its lack of empathy and a belief that their ways are better.

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