Yesterday at 4pm (3/9) Jorge Rios, 47, was riding his motorcycle northbound on Manahattan Ave when he hit a car near Green Street. He passed away at Bellevue shortly after. The driver of the vehicle is not expected to face charges, according to the Daily News. Rios was from Queens.
This accident happened only two blocks away from the site of another fatal motorcycle crash that happened last August. The victim was 18.
This only heightens the need for safer driving/traffic regulations in Greenpoint, especially after we were already identified (with Williamsburg) as the site of the most traffic-related deaths in 2013.
Update: Contributor Matthew Taub, who was at the scene, added some details (some of these are graphic):
The driver (of the vehicle) was not hurt, but a female passenger was removed by paramedics via stretcher. Members of the local fire department had to use hydraulic rescue tools to pry the car door open.
A large crowd quickly gathered after the accident, clamoring for police and and paramedics as Rios’s fate appeared increasingly perilous. Friends of the motorcyclist wailed in horror as blood seeped down the roadway.
Maybe traffic lights would help . With the cars parked and then a double parked one on top of that in front of the intersection you end up having to pull out in the middle of the street to see if its clear to proceed. I myself had close calls on Manhattan Ave and Nassau .
Wayne, I agree that is a big problem, and not just on Manhattan Ave. There are a lot of intersections in the neighborhood where you can’t see cross traffic until you’ve basically pulled all the way out into the intersection.
Instead of stop lights, I’d like to see those corner parking spaces turned into no-parking zones. They have that in some intersections, though its widely ignored.
I heard from an eyewitness both vehicles were speeding. Everyone just slow the F down.