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The distraught family of a Brooklyn cyclist who was killed when she was hit by a box truck say the poorly designed streets in the area are to blame for her death and is suing New York City for $100 million.
Sarah Schick, 37, a mother of two children, was cycling on Ninth Street near Second Avenue in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn around 7:20 a.m. on January 10 when a truck struck her in the bike lane, which is unprotected.
Attorney Sam Davis said her death could have been prevented if better safety measures were in place in the notoriously dangerous stretch of Ninth Street that forces cyclists to share the bike lane with cars and trucks.
The tragedy marks the sixth fatality in 18 years along the Ninth Street corridor, sparking protesters and cyclists to stage a ‘die-in’ near the area where Schick was killed as a growing memorial could be seen overflowing with flowers and photos.
Officials with The Department of Transportation have since announced that the unprotected portion of Ninth Street would be redesigned later this year.
Sarah Schick, 37, with her husband Maxime Le Mounier, died after she was struck by a truck in a shared lane on Ninth Street near Second Avenue in Gowanus area of Brooklyn last month
Officials with The Department of Transportation have since announced that the unprotected portion of Ninth Street would be redesigned later this year
Schick’s family said that they also plan to sue the driver of the 26-foot box truck who remained at the scene. No one was charged in the crash.
Both the truck and Schick proceeded through the intersection when the light turned green but as the lane narrowed together, the truck plowed into the cyclist, police said.
Her handlebars hit the truck and was thrown to the ground, where the truck’s rear tires ran her over, police added.
Davis, the family lawyer, said some city streets like the one Schick was riding on that day are filled with ‘lethal flaws.’
He explained that the shared lane – known as a ‘sharrow’ – contributed to Schick’s death.
‘This is what happens when a 26-foot box truck with a 6-foot cab that’s eight and a half feet wide is asked to navigate in a sharrow lane,’ Davis said on Monday. ‘That leaves three feet or less room on that road.’
He said her death is a result of the city’s ‘failure to do what is their responsibility to do, that is to study what’s a safe street, to design it as a safe street, to bring it up to date to what the current needs are to respond to the multiple fatalities and injuries and collisions.
‘Sarah’s death will be the force that compels the City of New York to fix these lethal flaws,’ Davis added.
Protesters and cyclists staged a ‘die-in’ near the area where Schick was killed as a growing memorial could be seen overflowing with flowers and photos
Attorney Sam Davis said her death could have been prevented if better safety measures were in place in the notoriously dangerous stretch of Ninth Street
There’s a growing memorial for Schick at the intersection where she died. She was a wife to Maxime Le Mounier, who said the city needs to be held accountable for her death. They have two children, ages 6 and 9
The Department of Transportation added protected bike lanes to much of Ninth Street in 2019, but a strip was left unprotected for cyclists west of Third Avenue
He also said that there isn’t proper notification of the lane merging.
‘Sadly, that sign was placed about 300 feet from where it needed to be placed, where the dedicated bike lane ended,’ Davis said.
The Department of Transportation added protected bike lanes to much of Ninth Street in 2019, but a strip was left unprotected for cyclists west of Third Avenue. This has not changed despite pressure to make improvements as accidents continued to happened in the same area.
‘The only change that was made was a delay in the traffic lights that give a pedestrian or bicyclist the opportunity to cross the intersection before they are overtaken by vehicular traffic,’ Davis said.
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The New York City Department of Transportation said it will be studying the street design, which happens at every intersection of a crash.
Schick was a director of a finance company that arranged funds for transportation projects
Schick, seen in happier times, with her two children, who live in Brooklyn
Her lawyer said she said she was involved in infrastructure projects that in those communities made the kind of difference in the safety of communities that we need from the city
Schick was a wife to Maxime Le Mounier, who said the city needs to be held accountable for her death. They have two children, ages 6 and 9.
‘It’s unacceptable that Sarah died respecting every rule of the road,’ Le Mounier said. ‘The city needs to take action and be held accountable for what happened.’
Schick was a director of a finance company that arranged funds for transportation projects.
‘She was involved in infrastructure projects that in those communities made the kind of difference in the safety of communities that we need from the City of New York,’ Davis said at the press. He called it ‘the irony’ of the situation.
Schick’s family is still trying to come to terms with their loss.
‘There’s a lot of uncertainty in our future right now. So we just take it day to day,’ said Le Mounier told NBC4.
‘There are no words to describe what we live actually,’ said Evelyne Schick, the victim’s mother.
Schick’s death was just the latest tragedy on Ninth Street in several years to spur calls for a redesign.
Le Mounier said that its’ ‘unacceptable that Sarah died respecting every rule of the road. The city needs to take action and be held accountable for what happened’
Schick’s family said they are still trying to come to terms with their loss. Pictured with her kids
Schick’s Facebook page is full of family photos. She has been with husband since high school
‘There’s a lot of uncertainty in our future right now. We just take it day to day,’ Le Mounier said
In 2018, a car driven by Dorothy Bruns plowed into two children Joshua Lew, 1, and Abigail Blumenstein, 4, killing them in the crosswalk on Ninth Street. Blumenstein’s mother, actress Ruthie Ann Miles, who was injured in the crash, also later lost her unborn child.
The tragedy sparked a protest and march with advocates meeting with DOT officials about the need to add safety measures to all of Ninth Street, not just between the park and Third Avenue. But nothing happened.
In 2004, 11-year-old Victor Flores and 10-year-old Juan Angel Estrada were struck and killed by a trucker on Ninth Street at Third Avenue, while walking home from school.
Le Munier said he learned about the deadly accidents on Ninth Street only after his wife’s death.
‘It’s unacceptable,’ Le Munier said. ‘She died respecting every rule of the road, so the city needs to be safer for the cyclists. That particular intersection and many others across the city need to be made safer, and we don’t want to see another tragedy like this.’
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
