Two elderly people have been killed in separate pedestrian accidents in Queens, Streetsblog.org reports. One of these fatal incidents occurred the afternoon of March 22 when Georgiana Belfiore, 75, was walking in a parking lot of a housing complex along 217th Street in the Oakland Gardens section. An 83-year-old man who was backing out of a garage struck Belfiore and pinned her under his vehicle. Belfiore reportedly died at the scene. The driver remained at the location and was not charged.
Illegal Left Turn Reported
On the same day, NYPD announced that an 88-year-old man who had been
struck on Northern Boulevard a few days before had died from his injuries. He was identified as Thomas Soong. In that case, police said a 52-year-old driver made an illegal left turn out of a parking lot on the westbound side of Northern Boulevard near 147th Street before colliding with Soong, who was crossing the roadway. Soong, a Flushing resident, was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. While no arrests have yet been made in that case or charges filed, officials have said the investigation is ongoing.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of both Georgiana Belfiore and Thomas Soong. We offer our deepest condolences to them.
Negligent (Careless) Drivers
In the first case involving Belfiore, the collision occurred when the driver was backing out of a garage. Drivers who back out, regardless of the location, are required to exercise due care and watch out for other vehicles and pedestrians before and during the maneuver. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are more than half a million such crashes each year causing about 30,000 injuries and 300 fatalities.
Safety experts say many of these collisions could have been avoided had drivers been more vigilant and aware of techniques to offset the hazards. Experts say drivers tend to let their guard down while driving in reverse because they are usually not traveling at a high rate of speed. Therefore, they end up losing their focus, which is critical for pedestrian safety in such situations.
In the other case, the driver made an illegal left turn. Here, the law requires motorists to exercise due care and yield the right of way to pedestrians who are crossing the street. This year in particular has been an extremely deadly one for New York City streets with 26 pedestrians killed through March 14 of this year, up from 23 fatalities over the same period last year, which was the highest count since 2013.
Streetsblog reports that these latest deaths come at a time when 60 civic and safety groups including Transportation Alternatives, Riders Alliance and Open Plans released an open letter to Mayor Eric Adams. This letter demands that he allocate $170 million per year toward implementing the Streets Master Plan, which calls for 30 miles of dedicated bus lanes, 50 miles of protected bike lanes and the creation of a number of pedestrian plazas.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
If you or a loved one has been injured in a pedestrian accident or bicycle accident, or if you have lost a loved one in an auto accident caused by a negligent (careless) driver, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
Pedestrian accident victims and their families should also remember that they can seek compensation for injuries or losses in collisions even if the victim was not walking in a marked crosswalk and even if the driver involved in collision was not charged. Our law firm recovered the full one million dollar insurance policy for a girl who was not in the crosswalk when a motor vehicle hit her.
For over 50 years, our skilled accident attorneys have established a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses. Our law firm recently recovered $5,600,000 for a bicyclist who was hit by a van, and $2,550,000 for another victim of a truck accident, and $3,000,000 for a pedestrian who was hit by a car, and the full $1,000,000 insurance policy for a pedestrian who was hit by a truck, and $4,625,000 for a driver who was in a car and was hit by a van, and $2,500,000 for a man who fell through an improperly secured hole.
We also obtained $295,000 in compensation for the victim of a bicycle dooring accident (where a car door opens into the path of a bicyclist). Also, one of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury and/or medical malpractice cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
Other TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at: www.WORK4YOULAW.com
Source: https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2022/03/16/two-more-queens-pedestrians-are-killed-by-drivers/