NYC cop injured in rumble strip accident
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- November
- 3
Richard Wilt, a veteran cyclist and marathon runner has lived for many years on Boone Road in Yorktown, which intersects with Route 100.
He cycled down to Route 100 countless times for safe rides along the broad shoulder, past the Muscoot Reservoir and Muscoot Farm. But on June 26, Wilt had a terrible accident.
He came onto Route 100, wasn’t prepared for the rumble strips the state DOT had installed a few months earlier, and lost control of his bike. He went down hard, face-first, on the pavement.
These pictures show what happened to Wilt, who has yet to fully heal from the accident, which chipped two teeth and split his lip so badly that he needed stitches to close it up. The New York City police sergeant still has issues with his jaw. And his teeth still need work.
Wilt has filed a notice of claims with the state of New York, the first step in the legal process to sue the state for compensation in the Court of Claims.
Wilt’s accident came more than two months after the state Department of Transportation had received a legal notice from attorney Larry Braunstein that the state had created a dangerous situation on Route 100 by installing the rumble strips.
On April 14, Braunstein, a White Plains attorney, sent by certified mail a two-page letter, alerting the state to the dangers it created on Route 100.
“The rumble strips are cut deep into the shoulder surface and when a bicycle, with narrow tires, passes over the rumble strips, the bicycle may become unstable, creating the possibility of the cyclist falling off of the bicycle onto the roadway, into the path of oncoming vehicles,†he wrote.
Braunstein added: “By installing the rumble strips, the DOT has taken what was the safest stretch of road for cyclists in Westchester and, in the name of safety, created conditions that are dangerous. It is my sincere hope that no cyclists are injured or killed as a result of the State’s misguided and uninformed action in installing the rumble strips.â€
Since Braunstein’s letter, at least four cyclists have been injured, with Wilt’s the most serious. I fear there will be even more serious injuries if the state fails to pave over the rumble strips and restore the road for safe cycling.
This entry was posted
on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 5:32 PM by David McKay Wilson. 
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