Recently, a man—who was standing with his wife and children on a busy sidewalk in Midtown—was abruptly struck and injured by a moving taxi cab.
The incident occurred around 4:00 p.m. this past Tuesday after two cab drivers collided at the intersection of 7th Avenue and 52nd Street. WABC reported that one cab driver was traveling south on 7th while the other was going east on 52nd. One cabbie supposedly ran a red light.
However, DNAinfo spoke directly with eye witnesses who said both cabbies were on 7th and one, who was speeding, “lost control” of the cab and struck the other from behind. Video evidence and photographs from the scene of the accident reveal that the impact sent both cabs onto the sidewalk. At this point, one of the cabs struck a pole and, sadly, the man standing at the corner.
The collision occurred in the Midtown North Precinct of New York, where local police officers issued a whopping 1 speeding ticket in 2012 (yes; you read that right: 1 ticket).
A local poster seller at the intersection told reporters that the whole event was “scary” and that the cab came within a few feet of his table. The poster seller said, “They’re driving company cars and they don’t care.”
Both the injured man and the cabbie were hospitalized. Unfortunately, according to crash data compiled by Streetsblog, Yellow cab drivers have killed at least 8 pedestrians and cyclists in Manhattan in the last 15 months and many more were injured.
When a cab driver accepts a passenger into his or her car, he or she is not just making a sale. Cabbies must remember that they are held to a higher standard of car due to the fact that a passenger contracts with the cabbie to safely and soundly transport him or her from one place to another.
Moreover, even when a taxi is empty, the cabbie—of all people—should be obeying the law to its fullest. Ultimately, when cab drivers are given free rein to drive recklessly and speed in New York City, this sets an ugly double standard for the rest of us.