The Cars That Ate NYC

CartLegger: 3rd Aug 2007 - 12:09 GMT

Looks to me like a faulty traffic policy, like a city built for the benefit of cars, not people.

This accident--which happened at the corner of Knickerbocker Ave. and grove St. in Bushwick, Brooklyn-- involved a car and a bike, but I have more images than answers.

The car was gone, the girl was left behind. She was in a neck setting, but I think she was alright.

This is not meant to capture the individual spectacle, but the inevitable tragedy that will strike others in this car captured city.

If you have other picutres of bike-auto wrecks (not too messy), post them here too.

CartLegger: 3rd Aug 2007 - 13:09 GMT

Also, the title is taken from this book "The Cars that Ate Bangkok", which first turned my stomach 10 years ago when I was living in Bangkok, and dodging traffic everyday. It was a grim oversize picture book by Philip Blenkinsop

You can find it here:
www.chulabook.com/cgi-bin/main/2006/description.asp?barcode=9789748496641

Tyfoid Kid: 3rd Aug 2007 - 14:27 GMT

Almost all american cities are built for cars first, second and third with people fourth and bicycles, who knows.

Cinic: 3rd Aug 2007 - 14:28 GMT

oh-oh!

credits:
http://untitledname.com/2006/08/flying-over-the-handlebars

Cinic: 3rd Aug 2007 - 14:29 GMT

Also, for the record, I realise this isnt a bike-auto wreck.

jack: 3rd Aug 2007 - 14:55 GMT

bikes and cars, not a good combination in a world of speed and exhibition, an accident happens and who is to blame, a driver going too fast, a bicylist not being too careful, and then an accident and the poor hurt person is down and its saddening to see people hurt. life is dangerous, be careful.

CartLegger: 3rd Aug 2007 - 16:47 GMT

But the point is, before the driver of the bicyclist has made their fateful and unfortunate decision, thousands of other decisions have already been made for both parties: by auto makers, city planners, politicians, road crews. We are hemmed in to the decisions chains of others.

jeeff: 3rd Aug 2007 - 16:57 GMT

it's only right to link to hool's infamous motorist vs courier.

jack: 3rd Aug 2007 - 18:55 GMT

true, but thats the way life is, city planners don't necessarily have to be smart people thinking about the masses of people in the future years, they just do enough because other people demand that they do just so much, and the buck is passed and not enough is done, we have in this world a few people who actually run this country, and they make all the decisions on what we do and can't do, what we eat and what we don't eat, they control the media and the media tells us everything they want to tell, so your correct and if you want more info check out john pilger's writings. he will blow you away.

tom: 26th Aug 2007 - 20:06 GMT

Yes, CartLegger, you've got it right. However, the decisions of the driver and rider enter into the equation as well. Unlike that delicious movie, "Run Lola, Run", there aren't any alternative outcomes. If the lady had stopped for another cup of coffee, if the driver had missed a light, if, if, if, then this would never have happened. But they didn't and it did.

CartLegger: 26th Aug 2007 - 20:35 GMT

In the narrative sense of things, yes, there's no denying that. But I am thinking of the statistical matrix that holds us all in its grasp, and could throw us down in front of a car any day. I think about every time I cross the big scary street by my house (Flatbush Ave). "How can they let this go on?" I ask, these cities shaped for cars, cars shaped for speed, people shaped (by media campaigns) to crave vehicular escape--only to find traffic jams. When the get the chance, they speed up--who wouldn't?
To not speed is simply a matter of virtue in this city, in this nation.

99¢Dreams: 27th Aug 2007 - 04:14 GMT

Car vs bike has never been a fair fight. But c'mon guys, the city was designed for HORSES, aye? Those early bikes had it rough on the cobblestones, though far less deadly. I think they mostly rode on sidewalks and in parks then, as the old pictures and movies suggest.

I'm a long-time biker, but not so much anymore. Drivers seem much more aggressive to me, especially since the video game generation made it onto the streets. Coincidentally, the accident pictured happened in Bushwick, my nabe. When I think of that poor kid biker killed last Spring at Palmetto and Central (a place I've biked by hundreds of times), I get more spooked about competing with the cars. The clamp-down on Critical Mass makes the idea of any bike-only street a pipe dream. Will the jet packs ever come?

upfromflames: 27th Aug 2007 - 11:36 GMT

That sad wreck is captured here:
www.citynoise.org/article/7033