UPDATE: IMPROMPTU MEMORIAL SERVICE Brooklyn bikers are planning to converge on the intersection of 5th and Warren [Google Maps] at approximately 8 PM tonight to pay their respects to Elizabeth Padilla.
From the be-careful-out-there dept.
NANCY DILLON and JONATHAN LEMIRE wrote in the DAILY NEWS: “A bicyclist who tried to squeeze between two trucks on a bustling Brooklyn street was crushed to death yesterday after she fell underneath one of the rigs, police said.”
“As Elizabeth Padilla, a 28-year-old lawyer, attempted to pass a 10-wheel Edy’s Ice Cream truck, the driver of another truck parked on Fifth Ave. in Park Slope opened his door, witnesses said … Padilla swerved to avoid the door but hit the side of the moving ice cream truck, causing her to topple under the vehicle’s large rear wheels … She was killed instantly, just six blocks from her apartment.”
The uncle of Padilla’s husband told the Daily News that she was a Cornell Law graduate and that she worked as an attorney for a nonprofit group: “She was a guide for a blind man in a bike race … That says it all. That’s the type of person she was.”
BIKE LANE BLOCKED? Too bad the Daily News article doesn’t list the cross street. According to J., writing on a local biker’s list, there’s a pretty good chance that she was riding in a marked bike lane… more than half of 5th Ave. from Flatbush Ave. down to 20th St. is well-marked as such.
The cross street was Warren, in the northern end of 5th Avenue where there are no bike lanes.
God that’s awful…
That is really sad. You really have to watch out for bicyclists. I was pulling out of a spot on 7th Avenue and I scraped a bike on his back wheel. He didnt fall but I felt horrible. I thought the guy would curse me out but he was pretty cool. I was lucky.
I once saw a biker get hit (mildly) in Manhattan because a car that didn’t have its signal on turned right, directly into him. Moral for motorists: just because you don’t see any other cars around you doesn’t mean you don’t need to signal!
OH this is hidious. Everyone please be careful this summer.
this is awful. thoughts and prayers for her family.
this is beyond awful it’s disgusting. there is nothing the city does to protect the bicyclist. bike lanes are a nice thought but anyone who rides know how often they have to swerve out into the road to get passed double parked cars. bicyclists are hit every day in NYC…i lost a friend 3 years ago on 4th ave and president. my heart goes out to elizabeth’s friends and family. it’s a war zone out there bicyclists…take care of yourself. we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. the bike lane on 5th ave was a huge leap for us…but it stops at union st. are we supposed to get off and walk???? please let drivers know they are in the wrong…fight back. i am disgusted that neither driver received a summons. this is a city…everyone should be required to look before they f-ing open their door. come on already! it’s illegal to get out of a taxi cab road side…wonder why????
My boyfriend was recently hit by a car at Underhill & Eastern Parkway when the driver went through a stop sign while looking to the right, not in front of her. The cops gave him, not her, an incredibly hard time. As if it had been his fault he was hit head-on by a car while he was wearing all kinds of lights, a helmet, and the car didn’t even stop at the sign. I just don’t get it.
I ride my bicycle every day and have found that there is very little if any respect given to cylists by drivers and walkers. I’ve had people yell at me to ride on the sidewalk and swerving to miss opening doors is a daily occurance. Just today i swerved to avoid hitting a door and the woman looked at me like i was the idiot. People, please be aware, you’re not just looking out for cars but people on bikes who can’t see you opening your door! The death of Elizabeth makes me so sad and one of the reasons is that it could have been any one of us.