MORE NEW YORK CITY ACCIDENTS HERE THAN ANYWHERE
From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Brooklyn Injury Lawyer)
Dangerous, indeed, is the base of the Manhattan side of the Williamsburg Bridge -- a span that over 5,000 bikers and countless walkers cross daily into the traffic congestion that forms at the intersection of Essex and Delancey Streets every morning.
The busy location has seen 119 car accidents and injuries involving pedestrians or bicyclists between 1998 and 2008, according to New York City accident data gathered by the non-profit group Transportation Alternatives.
The collision-crazy crossing was among the deadliest corners in the city, with at least three fatal accidents this year involving two pedestrians and a biker.
The number of bike riders on the bridge has grown in recent years along with the popularity of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and Long Island City, Queens. On average, 130 bikers turn north on Essex from Delancey Street during peak morning commute hours, according to a count done by Transportation Alternatives. That's 14 percent of all the bike traffic on the bridge at that time.
Another 434 cross Essex and turn west on Delancey Street, the group says.
The volume of bikers using the Williamsburg Bridge has increased five-fold since 2000, according to the city Department of Transportation, and now stands at 5,129 a day.
As the number of cyclists has increased, so too have the number of accidents and serious injuries.
"Essex and Delancey is a crossing that's moving up the rankings of most dangerous streets," said Transportation Alternatives spokesman Wiley Norvell, whose group plans to release data on the city's top 10 most dangerous intersections next month.
"It's one wide street, Essex, meeting another wide street, Delancey, and both have enormous amounts of traffic of all types. It's a rare instance of a dangerous street meeting a dangerous street -- unfortunately, it's really the worst of the worst," said Norvell.
