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news
Broken bike (CC licensed image by garryknight, www.flickr.com)NYC controversy: Cyclist not charged in Central Park collision that put pedestrian on ventilator
Controversy has broken out across New York over a police decision not to charge a cyclist who hit a pedestrian, leaving her brain-dead and on life support.
Jason Marshall, 31, was riding in a bike lane when he swerved out of it into the traffic lane to avoid a group of pedestrians, and hit Jill Tarlov, 59, in Central Park on Thursday.
Mr Marshall and witnesses agree that he shouted to warn Mrs Tarlov, the wife of CBS executive Michael Wittman and mother of two that he was coming, but there is disagreement over whether the cyclist was speeding or not, and numerous commentators have speculated that even if he had the green light to proceed, he should have been in a position to brake and avoid hitting the pedestrian.
Cyclists in Central Park are obliged to stick to a speed limit of 25mph, according to park rules, but without speedometers it remains a subjective measure for both cyclists and the police.
However the park rules state that: “cyclists are required by law to travel at a slower safe speed in response to crowd, emergency, or weather conditions.”
In addition cyclists must slow down, yield to pedestrians and then proceed cautiously at crosswalks.
In this case, it was not clear who had the right of way or how fast Marshall was going, police said.
Mrs Tarlov remains in critical condition at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
On Friday afternoon, police were out in the same location telling groups of cyclists to stop at red lights and give way to pedestrians. The officers also handed out fliers advising riders on how to avoid accidents.
“We’re just explaining to cyclists they need to stop at red lights,” one officer told the New York Daily News.
“A lot of these cyclists, they’re arrogant. They don’t think the rules apply to them. They need to stop, too.”
Paul Steely White, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, a cycling and pedestrian advocacy group, said in a statement: “We need to speak out in response to every preventable tragedy and condemn all acts of reckless behavior in traffic.
“As the most vulnerable users of our streets, pedestrians must be safe from reckless cycling, just as they need to be protected from reckless driving. This is particularly true in our parks.”
In the year so far, 468 Central Park bikers have received traffic summonses for violations that include speeding and failing to stop at red lights. The figures represent a 252 per cent increase from the 133 given out in the same period in 2013.
The New York Post’s columnist Andrea Peyser called the city’s cyclists “terrorists on wheels. Assassins in Spandex,” adding: “The bicycle menaces must be stopped.”
She added: “'Get out of the way! Get out of the way!’ Marshall barked.
"It wasn’t known who had the green light at the intersection. But wouldn’t you hit the brakes if you saw a vulnerable woman in the cross hairs of your carnage-causer?
"I don’t know if Tarlov heard Marshall’s voice. I have no clue if the ugly words he spat were the last to enter into her consciousness... Marshall was hunched over his brakeless, triathlon-style “aerobars’’ attached to the handlebars of his spiffy, yellow-and-black bike. And he struck her hard, causing Tarlov to hit her head on the pavement."
The paper sent reporters to the scene on Friday, who said they saw 60 cyclists swerve or jump red lights at the collision location.
Latest Comments
- grOg 3 sec ago
Where does it state in the article that Ashley purchased the stock? it does state that Ashley bought the brand and intellectual property, not the...
- rogerwb 2 hours 40 min ago
Jump off the bike and run across. I cycle in trainers though.
- momove 3 hours 43 min ago
Cheers for the lesson! Wasn't expecting one so was pleasantly surprised, especially getting to find the origin of "laconic"!
- ktache 4 hours 30 min ago
Isn't it a rights issue?
- AidanR 5 hours 20 min ago
Same here - it took me by surprise. 10:30am doesn't feel like a dangerous time to cycle; apparently I'm wrong on that.
- Daddy Feebs 5 hours 33 min ago
If anything, it looks a bit like an SL6
- wtjs 6 hours 9 min ago
Other commenters have different views True!
- Daclu Trelub 6 hours 24 min ago
Incredibly bone-headed.
- Sriracha 8 hours 26 min ago
Lidl have a window poster emblazoned, "Black Friday. Starts Sunday".
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24 comments
Unfortunately the lady who was hit has since died;
http://nypost.com/2014/09/22/mom-struck-by-cyclist-in-central-park-dies/
Does the NY Post print an extended rant about 'motorists' every time a pedestrian is hit by one?
If so - is there room for anything else in the paper?
The report says it happened in the 'traffic lane' (presumably that means 'motorised traffic'?). So it was basically a road with a 25mph speed limit?
I have no idea whether its wrong that he wasn't charged (well, OK, actually I'm a bit surprised he wasn't), but how is it any different from all the times someone in a car has hit a pedestrian on such a road? If he's been treated lightly I find it very hard to believe that its because of his choice of vehicle.
Link:
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/sorry-we-have-important-things...
BikesnobNYC has a pretty good write up of this incident.
...who was also not there at the time, and is paid to express inflammatory opinions...
"we don't know if he couldn't safely brake because of lack of room on the route he was on"
If any route is that busy, then you'd be going pretty slowly unless in a race...
Again, the guy was riding too quickly for the circumstances, with horrible consequences.
I'm saying he's an idiot, not that he's culpable of manslaughter or whatever. His poor judgment in this situation had a bad outcome. Just like with bad driving (mostly), the problem is excessive speed & lack of patience.
The only reason this is news is because bikes are superbly safe in general, and this so very rarely happens. If it had been a car, nobody would have noticed (except those immediately involved, of course).
It's quite sad really
...and because the woman was the wife of some important NY bigwig, apparently.
Agree that motor vehicle collisions have become so normalised that they don't make the news, unless they are causing really bad traffic jams so avoid that area folks, and be careful out there...
I find it suspicious that the guy was a data-junky but he apparently has no Strava record of that particular ride.
I'm not surprised that he's not uploaded that ride.
1. To avoid being attacked even further by the online lynch mob who have decided they know better than the police. "Shameless. He's uploaded his murder ride. Cyclists are scum. Let kill him!".
2. Out of simple respect.
3. To avoid showing that he was speeding at the time (if he was, which he says he wasn't). Even if his data would actually exonerate him, see 1. and 2. above.
4. Because his GPS device got smashed up.
5. Because he was too busy in hospital.
Could be any of the above or more. I would expect that the police asked to see his .gpx before deciding that they would not charge him.
Really? Even if I knew I'd been going a sensible speed and had been making all reasonable efforts to not put any pedestrians in danger there's no way I'd upload a ride where I'd put someone in a coma. Extremely disrespectful even if I hadn't done anything wrong. I may even, without thinking, delete it from my phone because I don't like it reminding me of that ride.
I'm sure the authorities have a hell of a lot more information than us commentators do in here. If they aren't charging him - then I'm sure they have very good reasons.
If the place was as busy as we think there must have been dozens of witnesses who could testify against him ?
Seems like a very sad incident - even a bike at 25mph can kill a person. Look at how many people die from a one off punch - which has a fraction of the power.
Let's hope it serves as a call to make the roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists as a result of that.
Or in his defence.
A 25-mph speed limit on bike paths would seem to encourage dangerous cycling (or at least not discourage it). Our limit is 20-kph and occasionally the police are out there with speed guns and ticket books.
I am also disturbed by the description of him riding on the aero bars around pedestrians. It is a pet peeve of mine on our MUPs and indicates that the cyclist isn't prepared to avoid the other path users
Wonder if the NYC plod thought to check Strava/MapMyRide/etc.
The guy is a f**king idi*t.
We expect drivers to slow when encountering complex and potentially dangerous sitations; he should have dropped anchor.
But no, instead he did like a dangerous driver and just kept going.
Jump to conclusions why not. You don't know his speed, you don't know whether he braked, you don't know whether the light was red or green, and you don't know how close to the curb he was, you don't know the speed the other traffic was going.
Do you even know that he was on a road and not a shared used path?
Yes, he's an idiot. Cycling (driving) far too quickly for the circumstances.
Apparently, we hold ourselves to a lower standard than we do drivers now, do we?
Central Park is busy, even if he wasn't speeding (25 mph limit), around people enjoying the park on foot, he was clearly going to fast to be able to stop in time.
Again, this is what we expect from drivers. A bike is a vehicle as well, and being in control of it, and the situation around it, is pretty damn important.
Exactly, We expect drivers to slow..., but very often they don't. Usually, they just hit their horn and make rude gestures; but actually braking...? No, I don't think so.
We don't know the circumstances of this terrible incident. We don't know if she stepped out, or whether this was on a shared use path where they share the lane or on a road where he had priority, we don't know if he couldn't safely brake because of lack of room on the route he was on, or how much notice.
Apparently this is the second incident in Central Park this year - looks like the Park authority might need to review the environment there.
The cyclist should be jailed ... surely he should not have been going faster than the conditions allowed and cannot expect others to get out of his way ... shouting to warn others he is approaching is not an excuse for not having to slow down ... that woman could have been a deaf/blind person. He deserves jail time.
I have to err on the cops side, it's impossible to say how fast or aggressively the cyclist was going. Only CCTV could help with that regardless, and probably still not tell the full story.
Also a 25mph "limit" is ridiculous around pedestrias, 15mph and a poorly judged ped movement into a "shared" lane can be fatal.. Peds don't wear helmets!
i'll ignore the helmet comment...
Why is 25mph ridiculous, we allow cars to drive at 60mph around pedestrians all the time?
In parks?
What's the point of a speed limit if speedometers aren't compulsory? OK, you know when you're massively over/under the limit, but the difference between 23 and 27?
They should pursue charging this cyclist with the same vigour they pursue charging the motorists who hospitalise over 16000 people every year in new York.
Oh....