On Thursday morning, a New York City bicyclist was hit and seriously injured by the driver of a Tesla on Second Avenue, according to Streetsblog. A Streetsblog reporter witnessed the crash and the subsequent police response and recorded what he saw in his article. First responders transported the injured cyclist to a nearby hospital while police officers spoke with the Tesla driver. After speaking with the driver and a witness to the accident, officers decided not to issue the driver a failure-to-yield ticket. NYPD Officer McCloud told the Streetsblog reporter that the crash was an accident, and that is why he did not issue a ticket to the driver. The accident occurred at about 10 a.m. on Second Ave. near the 59th St. Bridge. A group of commuting cyclists, including the one riding an electric Citi bike who was later hit, was using the designated bike lane. A car was illegally parked in a “No Parking” spot right next to the bike lane, just before the entrance to a parking garage. As the cyclists passed the illegally parked car and the garage entrance, the white Tesla turned left into the garage entrance, hitting the Citi bike rider. The illegally parked car had blocked her view of the cyclists. According to the Streetsblog reporter, the injured cyclist rolled over the Tesla’s hood and landed in the street. He screamed in pain and told witnesses he felt extreme pain in his back and lungs. Four minutes later, EMTs were loading him up into the back of an ambulance, taking him away before the police arrived. NYPD Officer McCloud spoke at length with the Tesla driver but did not speak with the victim. After McCloud determined the timeline and the chain of events, he decided not to issue the driver a ticket for failure to yield, and the driver left. According to Streetsblog, NYPD officers issued 63,955 failure-to-yield tickets to drivers between Jan. 1 and Oct. 1 of last year. This year, that number has dropped by more than 50%, suggesting that police officers are taking less initiative to discipline reckless drivers in the city. Every day in New York City, there are about 120 injury car crashes like the one that happened on Thursday. It is more likely than not that drivers who failed to yield to bicyclists, pedestrians, and other drivers regularly get away without even a ticket.
Police Do Nothing When Tesla Driver Hits and Injures Cyclist