Daily Archives: August 27, 2013

New York City cab accidents cause serious injuries

New York — Transportation safety activists are up in arms this week as two taxi accidents occurred within days of each other on city streets. The most recent of these car crashes involved a cab that jumped onto a busy Manhattan sidewalk and hit several pedestrians. The injured pedestrians included a woman tourist that suffered severe injuries of both legs. One of her feet was amputated during the car accident according to doctors. Bystanders tried treating the injured woman until ambulance crews and paramedics arrived. Unfortunately, trauma surgeons in the hospital were unsuccessful in reattaching the severed foot. According to reports, this cab accident victim was the most seriously wounded during the crash. However, at least two additional injury victims were treated in this pedestrian accident according to emergency responders. The extent of their wounds were unclear and the patients were rushed to the hospital for emergency evaluation and treatment. Witnesses say that the cab driver hit a bicyclist and some report that it was due to road rage. The taxi driver claimed that the accident was due to his losing control after the bicycle rider started banging on his cab. Police investigators were still looking into the details of what caused this motor vehicle crash. Apparently, the taxi driver has a poor driving record with several violations and tickets, including one for running a red light. Safety activists in the city expressed concern since this was not the first alleged road rage accident involving a NYC cab this week. In an unrelated taxi crash, two cab drivers were allegedly fighting for a customer fare and the car jumped the curb, hitting a construction scaffolding. In that taxi accident, one of the cars also hit the side of the building and caused damage. Activists pointed to the reckless driving behavior of many drivers in the city and are demanding more concrete actions to protect citizens. They warn that police and officials must do more to ticket aggressive drivers and suspend their driver’s licenses. Some believe that police should even impound their cars and arrest the most serious offenders, including those convicted of road rage crashes. Otherwise, safety advocates say, we can all expect to continue seeing serious accidents and injuries or even deaths on New York’s roads. You can find out more about the pedestrian accident involving the taxi driver and tourist here.

Photo by Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz) (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons