The following goes under the header “Things I Had to Learn the Hard Way.”
Crosswalks in New York Are Not Havens, Study Finds
Pedestrians struck by cars are most often hit while in the crosswalk, with the signal on their side…
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…
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…
For Maureen Landers, 41, from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, the results emphasized recent struggles to educate her children on street safety in a city where too often, she said, “no one is yielding to the pedestrian in the crosswalk.”
“My son wants to know, when can he walk to his friend’s house?” said Ms. Landers, who suffered a fractured elbow in 2009 after being struck by a turning vehicle. “I don’t know how to teach my 9-year-old to cross the street.”
Yeah, I know a little something about that too.
The study also says that, Bloomberg’s food-fascism notwithstanding, overweight accident victims had less severe injuries. When it happened to me three years ago, I was 50 pounds heavier than I am now. Without that extra padding, I might’ve been even more seriously injured. I guess that’s something.
So, why is it that drivers think they can just mow people down in the street? Well, when those drivers work for the government, they can just lie about it and think they can get away with it. But what about everybody else? Why do you think you’re more important than everybody else, drivers?
(Hat tip: Mike Riggs)