![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/damage-to-vanni-car.jpg\")
Here\u2019s the car, two days after the crash, still dented.<\/p>\nAnother day, another driver with a long record of recklessness nearly killing a man yet not suffering any punishment at all.<\/p>\n
It all started on a gorgeous Saturday, when Tom Flaschen was biking northbound on Fifth Avenue, according to . Ahead of him, approaching him in the wrong lane on two-way Fifth, was a senior citizen behind the wheel of a Honda. For a second, it looked to Flaschen like the driver was merely cutting the left turn, like drivers often do, to cheat oncoming traffic. But then all hell broke loose.<\/p>\n
A video of the incident was posted on Monday on Reddit:<\/p>\n
If you look closely, you can see that perhaps the only thing that saved Flaschen was the fact that he was paying attention and stopped, then hopped off his bike a split-second before the driver rolled over his bike as Flaschen waved his arms.<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t see it on the video, but Flaschen said the driver did stay on the scene, but didn\u2019t respond to his questions, saying only that the sun was in his eyes (not likely at 1 p.m.)<\/p>\n
The cops showed up, Flaschen told Streetsblog, but did not write so much as a ticket, despite seeing Flaschen\u2019s bike crumpled like a cheap suit and apparently receiving no denials from the driver.<\/p>\n
The incident raises so many questions about our treacherous streets and the failure to hold drivers accountable:<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the car, two days after the crash, still dented.<\/p>\n
Why didn\u2019t the cops even issue a ticket for failure to exercise due care? \u201cThey said they didn\u2019t directly witness it so there wasn\u2019t much they could do,\u201d Flaschen said. (We\u2019ve heard officers say this before and always wonder why they can\u2019t simply basic detective work to determine what happened \u2014\u00a0after all, there was the wrong way car, witnesses, a destroyed bike, and a victim \u2014 and enforce the law.)<\/p>\n
Doesn\u2019t this driver\u2019s previous record<\/a> of recklessness \u2014 10 speed-camera tickets and two camera-issued red-light tickets since 2020\u00a0\u2014 matter at all? Does anyone feel a responsibility to not let such drivers \u2014\u00a0especially after they have driven the wrong way and struck someone \u2014\u00a0merely drive away? \u201cThe camera tickets are a reliable way of capturing repeat and reckless drivers, which is what this person is, so the police should have the power to get drivers like this off the road,\u201d Flaschen said. (I know he drove away because I found the car in his driveway a few blocks from the crash site on Monday night \u2014 a huge dent in the front panel providing the incontrovertible evidence of the crash, above right.)<\/p>\n The cops didn\u2019t even take a report of the crash, so it will never appear in any statistics \u2014 and crash statistics are how the Department of Transportation determines which streets are \u201csafe\u201d and which streets aren\u2019t. So no one in power will know that a man was almost killed on Fifth Avenue on Saturday.<\/p>\n Flaschen said he initially had trouble getting video because Walgreens wouldn\u2019t provide it. I\u2019ve been in the news business for 35 years and my experience has been that corporations never provide video of crashes, which is such vital evidence of wrongdoing committed to a member of the community about which corporations claim they care so deeply. It\u2019s just awful; victims need video for the very reasons I stated in bullet point 1 and 2 above. The public, especially the car-driving portion of the public, never believes crash victims\u2019 stories unless there is video. \u201cWalgreens told me their policy is to not release footage without a subpoena,\u201d Flaschen said. \u201cBut videos like this are so important so to that the public can understand how these things happen, beyond the statistics. People need to see how bad it is out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking of which, the video is also crucial because it reminds us \u2014 and, more important, public officials \u2014 that paint isn\u2019t protection. \u201cYou have to be hypervigilant as a New York cyclist, which is why we need better design,\u201d Flaschen said. \u201cThe Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District has a plan<\/a> that would have protected me.\u201d<\/p>\n