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From time's up NYC:Fellow Cyclist Killed in Midtown (victim of an apparent dooring)

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From time's up NYC:Fellow Cyclist Killed in Midtown (victim of an apparent dooring)

Old 11-19-04, 03:12 PM
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Originally Posted by vincenzosi
Why did they not issue a summons? There's no contesting that he was double parked. His negligence could be the cause of death of this young man, and instead of pursuing the issue, they let him off with a "fix it and forget it" summons.
I imagine a substantial civil action will result and the victim's survivors will be well-compensated. The business that owns the truck probably has at least $1M in liability insurance... and quite possibly another $1M in a liability umbrella. Even a less-than-talented attorney should be able to win a wrongful death suit in this case. Usually insurance companies are eager to settle for the full amount of coverage in cases like this because because they know they're likely to lose anyway... so why spend a lot of money fighting it?

Although the truck owner may not have to pay out money in the form of a fine, they'll pay dearly in increased insurance premiums. They may even face cancellation based on loss history, which means their next insuror will eat them alive with higher premiums.
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Old 11-19-04, 03:13 PM
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I don't know... Vesuvio is, er, special...

We'll leave it at that...
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Old 11-19-04, 03:27 PM
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I'm not 100% sure obviously, but consider that all the italian restaurants in our fair city (or at least 92% of them) use Vesuvio as their distributors.

Maybe they're just really really good at what they do.
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Old 11-19-04, 04:25 PM
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The NY Times had a good sized article with a picture onthe 2nd page of the Metro section on it today.
It's not that bad and I'm surprised they ended it with a quote from a former messenger, Eddie McCormick, "This is the risk bike messengers take, I know, I used to be one. I quit after I almost got run over by a taxi. This guy was following all the rules, going with traffic, not against the traffic, and look what happened."
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Old 11-19-04, 04:33 PM
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Originally Posted by slvoid
I saw the thing in the news, apparently he wasn't hit by a car or anything after he was doored. They say he just flew head first into the ground.
They didn't say what the truck driver was charged with, if anything at all. It's absolutely appalling that he'll probably get away with it too. Drivers and passengers need to watch out when they open their doors, not just for the people around them but for their own good as well. And people should (not need to but should) wear helmets; cat like reflexes don't exactly work for humans.
Why should the law care about a lone cyclist? A child was killed by a drunk driver not too long ago and that driver will only get 1 year tops because the motorist was not speeding or breaking any other law other than intoxicated.
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Old 11-19-04, 04:35 PM
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Originally Posted by alanbikehouston
I would rather ride at 5 mph alive then at 20 mph and get killed. But, riding slow does not cost me money. And time is money for bike messingers.
According to what the newspapers say, this guy was delivering coffee and pastries. There are tons of folks doing this in the city, for local restaurants or delis. They ride beat up MTB, in a 2 mile radius from their shop and usually go like 5mph. They are not messenger, their job duties include cooking, cleaning, and sometimes also delivering stuff to the customers.
I don't get how someone can just die from a falll while carrying coffee on a bike... I don't get it.
This one hit close. These folks deliver to my work, my home, we ride side by side in the city, they deliver in the rain, snow or 100F weather... 24 hours a day. They are not speed junkies riding vicariously through the city.
This is so sad.
The memorial ride is in 20mins. Am going.
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Old 11-19-04, 04:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Dahon.Steve
Why should the law care about a lone cyclist? A child was killed by a drunk driver not too long ago and that driver will only get 1 year tops because the motorist was not speeding or breaking any other law other than intoxicated.
That being said, a year in prison is a LONG time for a person who is not "prison ready." Child killers are not treated very well, if you know what I mean.
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Old 11-19-04, 04:38 PM
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Here again, we only get part of the story from the pro-Critical Mass crowd. Here is the rest of story they didn't report. I'm sorry to see a cyclist die but please read what probably lead up to it.

https://www.newsday.com/news/local/ne...news-headlines

A bike messenger was killed yesterday morning when he fell headfirst from his bike in midtown after a deliveryman opened a truck door and knocked him down, police said.

But officials from the truck company blamed the accident on a police van they say hit the cyclist and threw him into the truck.

At 10:45 a.m., the messenger, Dell Covington, 42, of Woodhaven, was riding north on Eighth Avenue near 49th Street. <b>He tried to negotiate a narrow space between a double-parked delivery truck and a police prisoner transport van while holding a cup of tea in one hand and a large muffin in the other, police sources said. </b>

<rest at link>
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Old 11-19-04, 04:43 PM
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Originally Posted by NYCommuter
According to what the newspapers say, this guy was delivering coffee and pastries. There are tons of folks doing this in the city, for local restaurants or delis. They ride beat up MTB, in a 2 mile radius from their shop and usually go like 5mph. They are not messenger, their job duties include cooking, cleaning, and sometimes also delivering stuff to the customers.
I don't get how someone can just die from a falll while carrying coffee on a bike... I don't get it.
This one hit close. These folks deliver to my work, my home, we ride side by side in the city, they deliver in the rain, snow or 100F weather... 24 hours a day. They are not speed junkies riding vicariously through the city.
This is so sad.
The memorial ride is in 20mins. Am going.
Actually I got the impression that he was a bike messenger and the muffin and coffee was his breakfast. I think one of the articles just said he was carrying his breakfast, and another article had an eye-witness stating that after the crash he was still clipped into his pedals.

But regardless of what job he had, it certainly is tragic.
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Old 11-19-04, 04:46 PM
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Originally Posted by vincenzosi
Here's a major part of the problem in this city. From the Newsday article Stacy quoted:

Why did they not issue a summons? There's no contesting that he was double parked. His negligence could be the cause of death of this young man, and instead of pursuing the issue, they let him off with a "fix it and forget it" summons.
By not issuing the summons, the family of the victim will find it more difficult to collect money because the truck was not in the wrong by being double parked. Insanity.
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Old 11-19-04, 05:11 PM
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was riding north on Eighth Avenue near 49th Street. He tried to negotiate a narrow space between a double-parked delivery truck and a police prisoner transport van while holding a cup of tea in one hand and a large muffin in the other, police sources said
While any death is tragic (they just pulled the body of a 20 yr old student from the local river), this point really set me back.

Maybe its old age, senility setting in, or just the fact that I'm at that point where I realise that someday I'll be dead. Shooting the gap between vehicles and encumbered with objects in each hand. Man, thats just not right.
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Old 11-19-04, 05:44 PM
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Originally Posted by Dahon.Steve
By not issuing the summons, the family of the victim will find it more difficult to collect money because the truck was not in the wrong by being double parked. Insanity.
Actually, the summons is of little consequence in civil court. The verdict is based on a preponderance of evidence, not a criminal conviction. It's a fairly easy case.
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Old 11-19-04, 08:07 PM
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Do not ride with coffee or muffin in your hands. NYCcommuter says he was delivering the coffee and muffin, the accounts I read imply it was his own coffee and muffin. Messengers must not agree to deliver anything that can't go in bag or on rack. Nobody should ride with coffee and/or muffins in their hands. Everybody should wear a helmet. Tragic that he died, if someone can learn something from this, a similar incident might be avoided.
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Old 11-19-04, 08:21 PM
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The memorial ride was OK. I'm not good at guessing numbers...more than 30 and less than 150 were there? call it 75? I really don't know. There was a sort of vigil for about a half hour at the accident site. The police had set up a pen made of metal barricades, everybody stood around in there, then afterwards there was a ride across 49th to Broadway, down Broadway to 14th, across 14th to Avenue A and down A to E7th, where everyone got off their bike and went to Phoebe's, I think. I wasn't thirsty and so I went home. People seemed in OK spirits, I guess. No one was really angry or more antisocial than usual and there seemed to be decent cooperation with the NYPD.

Well, that happened, anyway. It's an unpleasant, dangerous avenue to ride on. You're all right that probably everyone involved could have done a better job taking care of each other and themselves, but only the guy on two wheels is dead, so maybe lay off of him, huh? I'm sure he'd rather be alive than an object lesson in cycling safety or whatever. I don't know. I guess you're right. He should have just stopped and had his muffin or whatever. I wish it hadn't happened.
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Old 11-19-04, 08:49 PM
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There were a lot of messengers at the ride. As Laika mentionned, there were about 75 people there. The memorial was nice, with a moment of silence. The ride down broadway escorted by NYPD was interesting... quiet.
Maybe I misread the whole thing and the guy was a messenger more than a delivery guy... regardless, he was a guy like us, on a bike, who died a block from my office.
Not many (any) people at the memorial seemed to know him, but it sure got a lot of attention from the police and the media...
I guess we'll never really know what went on, the whole thing is just sad, stupid, pointless and should not have happened.
O.
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Old 11-19-04, 08:49 PM
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I for one think he could've stood on the top tube doing a dance while holding the bike with a waterskiing rope flying down 8th avenue at 30 mph, and as long as that truck opened the door while double parked he'd still be wrong.
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Old 11-19-04, 09:18 PM
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Yes, I care, I'm a messenger. Perhaps it's wrong to point out what he could have done differently and maybe survive. Some one who is still alive might do something different after hearing this story and not get killed. That's my only hope. I'm sorry that my previous post sounded critical of the deceased. It could happen to any of us who ride in traffic.
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Old 11-19-04, 09:19 PM
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What an interesting phrase. There are no "fresh" marks on the police van.
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Old 11-19-04, 09:22 PM
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Originally Posted by vincenzosi
I for one think he could've stood on the top tube doing a dance while holding the bike with a waterskiing rope flying down 8th avenue at 30 mph, and as long as that truck opened the door while double parked he'd still be wrong.
I agree
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Old 11-19-04, 10:21 PM
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So channel 7's eyewitness news just covered this. The story's title, "Wild Rides?" pretty much sums up the tone of it. My takeaway from it was that they a) blame the messenger for getting killed, despite the fact that state law places the blame for doorings squarely on motorists and b) they think that his death justifies the bike license bill.
No mention, of course, of the fact that a police vehicle was involved in the accident. But there was a good fifteen seconds of footage of the October Critical Mass, despite the fact that there's was no mention of whether the dead man had ever ridden in CM.
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Old 11-20-04, 02:02 AM
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I swear the t.v. media is skrewing up our society because nobody thinks they have the time to read and stay informed. When everyone gets that homoginized bull that is blatantly someone's opinion and not the facts, then everyone starts following someone's opinions as facts. Sickening.
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Old 11-20-04, 08:42 PM
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What a piece of sh*t article! First the “10 hardest sports”, now this! That’s Daily News for you. Ok they guy was eating a muffin and?...... what, drivers don't eat while driving, what, they don’t shave or put on makeup while driving? They made it out as only cyclists fault. What are you suppose to do when a car door swings open right in front of you, bunny hop? The accident happened because passenger didn't care too look before opening the door, however cyclist died because of his own stupidity.


To Moderators: Why was my original reply edited? I belive you have to be over 13 to regester. My search found 23 replies with word “sh*t” in them, so why does my get edited?

Last edited by Chuvak; 11-20-04 at 08:54 PM.
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Old 11-21-04, 11:04 PM
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Something I just realized: New York traffic rules state that opening the door on the traffic side of your car without looking would put the vehicle operator at fault, but in this case the delivery truck opened the side facing the street. I don't think we can really blame the delivery truck for opening the door without looking, as who would expect a vehicle to go through the narrow gap between two vans?

Of course, this does not excuse the delivery van for double parking, which I think should have been dealt with with the utmost severity.
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Old 11-21-04, 11:07 PM
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That's what I don't understand. At the very least, the truck should've gotten a summons for double parking, not a "fix it and forget it" ticket for a tire. I just don't get it. There's no doubt the truck was double parked. None whatsoever. It's not open for debate.
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Old 11-22-04, 12:11 PM
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Sad. I'm so sad and friggin angry.

Wear a helmet. If you don't, you're an idiot. If you think you look cool riding without a helmet, think of it this way, Brain damage isn't cool. Being dead from stupidity is even less cool.---I'm not at all saying that it was the biker's fault for not wearing one, it was the truck driver's fault, for sure. But he may be alive if he had a helmet on. Poor dude.

To all motorists in NYC, and heavily trafficked areas--
OPEN YOUR DOORS CURB SIDE!!!! CURB SIDE, I TELL YOU!!!
If you open your door into traffic and hit or kill a bicyclist, you go to jail. No questions asked. Involuntary manslaughter, or attempted manslaughter. Criminal.

Educating the public is the only way to keep us safe. Motorists are NEVER told to look for bikes. EVER. You are taught to look for other cars.

Here's what I want. I know this will happen when pigs fly, but here it is anyway:
5th ave. turned into a pedestrian/bike greenway. No cars allowed. Cars can cross over every 5 blocks, and must wait for the green light on their side, which is a long wait...ha ha.
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