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New York Shitty Videos Du Jour: Live From Graham Avenue & Driggs Avenue
After receiving a tip about— and later receiving a downright scary personal account from— the lady cyclist who was hit by a car at this intersection earlier this week, today I decided to see for myself exactly how the stop sign in question is obeyed. Or not— as you’ll see.
New York Shitty analysis:
- Props go to the livery cab driver who pulled over to let the ambulance pass.
- Otherwise, simply slowing down and peering around the corner does not a “stop” make.
- Methinks some traffic enforcement is in order.
As luck would have it the Commanding Officer of the 94th Precinct— Deputy Inspector Hurson himself— spied me walking down Woodpoint Road shortly after I shot the above footage. He pulled over and we talked. I told him about what I saw at this intersection, noting the recent accident (of which he was familiar). Hopefully we’ll see some action here moving forward…
UPDATE, 9:34 p.m.: I informed the lady recovering from this accident, who we’ll call “C”, of my findings. Here’s what she had to say.
…thank you for putting my story w. the photo on new york shitty. a friend said she saw that i commented… i told her she was nuts… but then we figured it out!! i spoke to (Good Samaritan — Ed. Note), one of the guys that helped me. he was actually driving behind the guy that hit (me) and said he didn’t stop. he actually sped up!! (Good Samaritan) has photos and took notes!!…
To be continued…?
Comments
4 Comments on New York Shitty Videos Du Jour: Live From Graham Avenue & Driggs Avenue
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Triborough on
Thu, 19th Jul 2012 8:10 pm
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lylet on
Fri, 20th Jul 2012 11:52 am
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fineartmetals on
Fri, 20th Jul 2012 5:14 pm
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missheather on
Sat, 21st Jul 2012 9:58 am
There are several problems here.
There are two stop signs at the north side of the intersection.
The one on the right (while facing south) has a warning sign for two way traffic ahead mounted on the same pole as the stop sign, which is mounted higher than normal as the yellow warning sign is taking up the real estate that the stop sign would take up if mounted at normal height.
Additionally, the right side stop sign is blocked by a tree. Ideally, a Stop Ahead warning sign should be placed in advance of the intersection if it is known to have the sign obstructed.
DOT has placed a secondary stop sign on the left (facing south) side of the street. That sign is at more of a normal height for stop signs and is less obstructed. “Section 2B.06 STOP Sign Placement
Standard:
The STOP sign shall be installed on the right side of the approach to which it applies. When the STOP sign is installed at this required location and the sign visibility is restricted, a Stop Ahead sign (see Section 2C.29) shall be installed in advance of the STOP sign.” – The Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices
However, both stop signs have the problem of having a Do Not Enter sign placed on the reverse side of the pole. This can reduce the visual impact of the stop sign as the octagon shape is not as prominent due to being framed by the reverse of the Do Not Enter sign. Some places, such as Wisconsin, use octagon shaped Do Not Enter signs to mount on the reverse side of a stop sign to enhance visibility.
Perhaps a solution would be for DOT to install a red flashing light to supplement the stop sign as well as a stop ahead sign and a bit of tree trimming.
That intersection is awful – regardless of whether you’re a pedestrian, biker or driver.
As a driver – you have to pull into the crosswalk to basically see safely (look for left turns off of McGuinness, cars coming straight at you from Graham and bikers coming from pretty much all directions). I agree that rolling the stop is dangerous, but whenever I drive through there it requires a two-stop maneuver – once where you can’t really see anything before the crosswalk, then inching out gradually to get a safe line of sight. Of course, there always seems to be a livery cab jammed up your bumper during this maneuver. While the triangle park is nice, the greenery blocks the view up Driggs unless you’re in a truck.
As a pedestrian, crossing the McGuinness ‘offramp’ is harrowing because you’ve got (mostly over) 30MPH drivers jamming on their brakes just to get stopped in time. If you’re making the left turn off of Graham onto Driggs, you can’t see people turning left off of McGuinness onto Driggs. I’d assume the same is true of bikers. Unfortunately, Driggs is also one of the few ‘cut through’ streets across McCarren – so I think this may encourage bikers to go the wrong way down Driggs more often than for other streets. (not that I’m in any way saying that was what happened in this case – just a general statement!)
The safest solution: put in a light that is timed to match the one on McGuinness and make Graham one-way for that final block (even though maybe it’s a bus route?).
I walk or drive through this intersection daily. It is very difficult to see if you have the right of way to go straight or turn left without pulling up partially into the intersection.
I’ve had a few close calls with motorists but only ever been hit by a cyclist. A few hundred pounds of fast moving human and metal can cause great injury. Thank god I wasn’t carrying my one year old.
Your filming seems selective. For every rolling stop by a car, I could show an equal number of cyclists just running it outright.
Lets hold everyone accountable for failure to stop; motorists and bicyclist. Until there are clear rules of the road for all there will continue to be more accidents as bike rider ship increases. With privileges comes responsibility.
You wrote:
Your filming seems selective. For every rolling stop by a car, I could show an equal number of cyclists just running it outright.
Lets hold everyone accountable for failure to stop; motorists and bicyclist. Until there are clear rules of the road for all there will continue to be more accidents as bike rider ship increases. With privileges comes responsibility.
I simply stood at this intersection and filmed incoming traffic. What I saw, I filmed. Had I picked a different time (perhaps a.m. rush hour or a weekend) I imagine I would have seen bicyclists doing the same thing (and I have heard complaints to this effect, lest you are wondering). In any case, I am in total agreement with you about enforcement. It should be across the board. It would certainly help here. Then again, this intersection has a lot of problems (these Triborough has outlined quite well).
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