Statement After Tractor-Trailer Driver Kills 28-Year-Old Woman Riding a Citi Bike on the Upper East Side
Tuesday’s crash is yet another Upper East Side fatality caused by the driver of a gigantic truck, after a box truck driver killed two on the Upper East Side on Christmas Eve 2021
NEW YORK — On Tuesday morning, a 28-year-old woman riding a Citi Bike died from severe head trauma after being struck by the driver of a large tractor-trailer on East 85th Street, which is not a designated truck route, has a large sign reading “passenger cars only” at the entrance to the block, and is dozens of blocks from the closest crosstown protected bike lane.
Statement from Danny Harris, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives:
“Another New Yorker is dead while trying to ride a bicycle on the Upper East Side. Despite decades of advocacy, New York City has failed to build adequate crosstown protected bike lanes in this neighborhood. The absence of safe biking infrastructure on the Upper East Side is deadly.”
“The New York City Streets Plan requires 20 miles of protected bike lanes to be built citywide this year. We need quick action from the Adams administration to meet this benchmark. Failing to do so will keep bike riders in danger and more people will be killed by cars and trucks.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the young woman killed riding her bike today. We will continue to work tirelessly so no New Yorker needs to fear death as they move around our city.”
Additional information on background:
To date in 2022, crashes have killed 142 people citywide, the exact same number of fatalities by this point last year, which was the deadliest since Vision Zero began. This is 38 percent higher than the number of people killed by this point in 2018, the safest year on record.
To date in 2022, crashes killed 11 people riding bikes citywide.
To date in 2022, drivers of large trucks and tractor trailers have killed at least 19 people citywide.
In the past two years, City Council District 4, which includes the Upper East Side, has ranked the second-most dangerous district for people biking, with 455 cyclist injuries and 2 (now 3) cyclist fatalities.