Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Another car crash at Queens Plaza
From Fox 5:
A car slammed into a store in Long Island City on Wednesday just over one week after a similar incident in the same location.
Two people were seriously injured at around 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday when the driver of a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta driving Queens-bound on the lower level of the Queensboro Bridge lost control and crashed into a building at Crescent Street and Queens Plaza, said police.
The 39-year-old driver was arrested at the scene. Charges are pending. EMS officials told FOX 5 News that the driver suffered a partial arm amputation. He was taken Bellevue Hospital in serious condition.
A 40-year-old passenger suffered head trauma, police said. She was taken to New York Cornell Hospital in critical condition.
The outer roadway to the Queensboro Bridge was closed.
25 comments:
.....and a park is being built under the bridge when the area would be better served spending monies correcting the off-bridge conduits. Two accidents in the same place a week apart?
Don't know about you, but I can't think of anything more delightful than sitting in a park under the screeching noise and thrown-off soot of the overhead trains of Queens Plaza. Money well spent (he said facetiously)
off-bridge conduits.
Don't you mean the Koch off-bridge conduits?
Correcting the conduits??
How about people just drive too fast and carelessly. These two accidents are obvious consequences of that.
- A Driver
Given the accident was at 4:30 AM one has to wonder whether alcohol was involved. At least we won't see this jackass drink-n-drive again.
At 4:30 am you have no business being on the road unless you are drunk, going fishing, or delivering the paper.
If anyone read the newspaper accounts of the accident, you might also see one area merchant criticized the redesign of the outer roadway. Yes speed is an issue but that slight right turn is deceiving even if you follow the speed limit.
*correction* It seems the Nypost edited the earlier website coverage of the accident. They removed any mention of the bridge exit redesign and how there were many accidents cause by it.
Maybe, but you're not going to total your car into storefronts like those two drivers did if you are traveling at a reasonable rate of speed.
How many people drive on that part of the bridge and DON'T crash when they get to the ramp. Are they just lucky?
Your missing the point. The Nypost early website version of the story had a comment from a local merchant who complained about the redesign. He said that there were many more accidents in that area since the DOT redesign of the outer roadway.
If you even read my earlier posting properly you would have seen I admitted speeding was probably a primary cause. I never said the redesign cause these two crashes. Yes speeding does play into these specific incidents but do you or anyone else knows how many accidents have occurred at this intersection since the redesign.
You or I will never know since the DOT plays with the facts but I would take the word of a local store owner who actually has a business on that block.
Was it a case of DWO (driving while Oriental)?
Better not put those historic millstones back there on pedestals in that proposed park.
They'll also wind up getting hit for sure!
Give that man a hand!
i exit at the right hand turn to the local streets weekly,
at about midnight.
frustrated by the reporting confusion of this danger spot after the first VW fatality, i made a comment on Q.C. on tue. 4/5/11 on "how did D.S.N.Y.not notice this".
my prediction has come true, because of the bridge accident last night.
the portable concrete dividers have been stained by all the auto's sideswiping them ,when making the sharp right turn.
my photos show this ,and the three converges from the bridge and side street.law suits will be filed against t..he d.o.t. and you,the taxpayer. even though
Bike-o Pscho- Sadie initiated this $43 million project.
photos from this week will be sent later today.
The walls along the Interboro are all scraped up from cars sideswiping them also. It just shows that people can't drive.
http://www.qgazette.com/news/2011-04-06/Features/Crash_Raises_Questions_At_Queens_Plaza.html
Well it seems that EDC and City Planning are scoring another victory over the community (Hi Penny!) as our electeds run interference for them.
Its bad enough the Dutch Kills millstones, after broken promises by certain parties, are taken to a library to put on display despite that fact the library just fired librarians and can't buy books (glad to see Galante and the boys on the board have their priorities straight)
.... but now the same parties behind that little donnybrook are redesigning the traffic at the Plaza that are raising a lot of safety issues.
Like people getting killed....
Not to worry.
Jimmy Van Bramer, Cathy Nolan, Carolyn Maloney and a you know who are on the case. We can all rest easy that those that made these decisions are still at the helm.
the nytimes story and photo relates the danger of this bike path and pedestrian safety project,almost accurately.
it fails to emphasize the many vehicles that previously have sideswiped the "jersey dividers" and left their telltale paint stains .
it also omits the cost of the project?
somehow i get the impression that vehicle access and safety into L.I.C. was a secondary concern by the D.O.T.
"At 4:30 am you have no business being on the road"
As long as it doesn't violate any law you have ALL the business being on ANY road.
Why do you hate America?
"Why do you hate America?"
...unless you are delivering the paper, going fishing, or drunk.
I guess you missed the attempt at humor.
"“Excessive speed appears to be the dominant factor,” said Seth Solomonow, a spokesman for the city’s Transportation Department, who said that the off-ramp and its guardrails had not been modified since 2007. "
Sounds like a blatant lie. Look at that new concrete. Either way, the drivers were still at fault for driving way too fast.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/nyregion/07bridge.html?ref=nyregion
People drive too fucking fast. It's that simple.
And...and...they're drunk, high, drunk and high, and texting and talking on cell phones. That's the problem. Not the streets, which have been there for 200 years now.
The street has only been in that configuration for a few months, not 200 years.
Crappy
That posting of the 200 year old streets was obviously from EDC or city planning - the same folks that called the 350 year old Dutch Kills millstones as a "decorative sidewalks" and stopped them from landmark designation.
The problem is not those morons, but the Jimnmys and Cathys and Carolyns that protect them from the community.
What does that model of community -based urban planning - the local civic - have to say about the budding Queens Plaza disaster?
Afterall, they are quick to tell everyone that they were part of the planing mix from the very beginning.
There should be a full investigation and if people are getting killed because of poor and /or incompetent design by ECD and City Planning, not only should the parties involved in making those decisions lose their jobs, but they should be brought up on charges.
I live on Queens Plaza and it's amazing how many cars run red lights, especially at that hour (instead of fishing, put me in the biking and kayaking early riser bin). They just blaze through. The attitude is, "Well, there are cars at the red light just ahead. I'll stop for that one." In the meantime, pedestrians are really imperiled. I'm not exaggerating to say I have been nearly killed several times.
At other hours, the chaos is actually induced by traffic cops who will wave cars on through red lights when people are in the middle of crossing.
Personally, I thought greenery should ring Queens Plaza. It plays no useful role for habitat or relaxation in the middle of the plaza. I favored an office tower and cultural center for the old Kennedy Parking Plaza -- a transit hub is perfect for such projects, as opposed to destroying residential neighborhood character. But the traffic island improvements and bike lanes through the plaza are needed safety additions.
(As a humorous aside, I had a date with a woman who is an immigrant and works for an Italian company. I told her we could meet on the plaza. She kept calling and circling endlessly, asking, "What plaza? I don't see any plaza?" It suddenly struck me how hilarious it is that we still call a 16(?)-lane highway a "plaza.")
A nice then-and-now spread here: http://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/bigmap/queens/lic/queensplaza/
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