Awful news from New York City. A collision on the Queensboro Bridge bike lane left two people dead Thursday morning, according to CBS News.
According to police, the collision happened around 8:20 a.m. in the westbound bike lane on the bridge’s lower level. Authorities say a 39-year-old man riding a stand-up electric scooter collided head-on with a cyclist travelling in the opposite direction.
Scooter was illegal
The scooter rider has been identified as Allan Francis Deball, but the cyclist has not been named yet.
Commuters on their way to work described a gruesome aftermath. One bystander said the scene resembled a motorcycle crash rather than a collision inside a protected cycling lane. Another said the Factor bicycle appeared “in a million pieces” following the impact.
“The scooter rider and the cyclist were both wearing helmets, but it was just clearly such a dramatic collision that even the helmets couldn’t save them,” Kurt Freyer, who saw the incident, said.
Police have not confirmed how fast either rider was travelling. However, city officials said the scooter involved was illegal because it was capable of exceeding 80 km/h. Under New York City rules, electric scooters that can travel faster than 32 km/h are illegal. According to the New York Times, “The photos of the collision site appear to show a Teverun Blade GT Suit II+ e-scooter, billed on the company’s website as a “wolf in a suit” that can reach almost 53 m.p.h.”
The tragic incident has transportation advocates calling for stricter enforcement around high-powered micromobility devices.
“Crashes like these are entirely preventable. Scooters that travel this quickly have no place in our bike lanes. The City Council has to move forward with the ‘Ride Safe, Ride Right’ bill to prevent the sale of the most dangerous micromobility devices,” Ben Furnas of Transportation Alternatives said to CBS news. “Twenty mph is plenty for anything on New York City neighbourhood streets. And certainly in our bike lanes. The data is clear, anything faster than 20 mph is deadly.”
Here in Toronto, the city is considering backing new provincial rules that would require some heavier, motorcycle-style ebikes and e-scooters to be licensed, insured and registered, especially those capable of speeds above the current 32 km/h limit.
The proposal comes amid growing complaints about fast-moving e-mopeds in bike lanes and on sidewalks, with city officials also…
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