A cyclist and the operator of a motorized scooter are both dead after the two crashed into one another in the Queensboro Bridge bike lane early Thursday morning, cops say.
Police said they received a call at 8:21 a.m. on May 28 that the 39-year-old male motorized scooter operator collided with the 35-year-old cyclist on the bridge connecting Manhattan and Queens. The scooter rider was traveling eastbound, and the cyclist was going west at the time of the crash.
Emergency services personnel rushed both Weill Cornell Surgery at New York Presbyterian-Queens, where they were both pronounced dead, according to the NYPD.
Cops said there have been no arrests and they are still investigating the incident. The victims’ identities have yet to be released.
The scooter involved in the crash was an illegal device capable of reaching up to 53 miles per hour, according to the safe streets advocacy group Transportation Alternatives. Such scooters can be purchased online even though they are illegal.
“We’re horrified to learn that two New Yorkers lost their lives today on the Queensboro Bridge. Our thoughts are with their families, friends, and community,” said Ben Furnas, the group’s execuitve director, in a statement. “Crashes like these are entirely preventable. Scooters that travel this quickly have no place in our bike lanes.”
Both Furnas and Roz Gianutsos, a member of the group Families for Safe Streets, both urged the City Council to pass the “Ride Safe, Ride Right” legislation, or Intro 244. The measure, sponsored by Council Member Crystal Hudson (D-Brooklyn), is designed as a point-of-sale ban on e-micromobility devices that go above 20 miles per hour.
“We can’t sit by while New Yorkers are riding electric scooters that can travel 30, 40, or even 50 mph,” Gianutsos said in a statement. “We’re counting on the City Council to move Council Member Hudson’s bill and finally protect all New Yorkers — regardless of whether you ride an electric scooter or just ride next to one. Safety for each of us is safety for all of us.”