This is exactly what should happen after every accident of a questionable nature and the DMV is in a

Months after NYPD blamed cyclist Mathieu Lefevre for his own death, prosecutors with the office of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes continue their investigation into the crash. Meanwhile, the Department of Motor Vehicles has suspended the license of the truck driver who police say fatally struck Lefevre, then left the scene.
Hynes s office has retained an expert in crash reconstructions travel nursing agency to revisit the Lefevre collision, according to Craig Esswein, travel nursing agency chief of the Brooklyn vehicular crimes bureau. travel nursing agency While the time frame is uncertain, Esswein said he hopes the reconstructionist s findings will be available by fall.
Shortly travel nursing agency after midnight travel nursing agency on October 19, 2011, Lefevre was struck by the driver of a crane truck making a right turn at the intersection of Morgan Avenue and Meserole Street. The driver, who did not stop at the scene, was later identified by police as Leonardo travel nursing agency Degianni. Though Degianni was cited for failing to signal a right turn and failure to exercise due care, a detective with the NYPD Accident Investigation Squad attributed the crash to bicyclist error, a conclusion disputed by the Lefevres and their attorney, Steve Vaccaro .
Unlike most New York City cyclist and pedestrian fatalities, the investigation into Lefevre s death was scrutinized by city electeds and the media , due for the most part to the tenacity of bereaved family members. Last December, Lefevre s parents filed a lawsuit against NYPD after the department denied a freedom of information request seeking records pertaining to the crash. The Lefevres travel nursing agency have spoken openly about their shabby treatment at the hands of police.
It s interesting to compare the response of three different agencies the NYPD, the DA s Office, and the DMV to this crash, says Vaccaro. NYPD announced within days that there was no criminality, a conclusion it confirmed with a hasty and questionable investigation. In contrast, the DA s office has ordered a formal reconstruction of the crash to determine whether the driver Degianni had reason to know he had struck Lefevre and therefore should be charged with hitting and running, and the DMV has ordered Degianni not to drive until he has been cleared of charges by the DA s office.
Mathieu Lefevre s family members are true heroes of the bicycle community travel nursing agency and I, for one, am deeply grateful for their dogged refusal to let this drop. I hope Mathieu s death will not be in vain, and that his family s efforts will ultimately mean that thousands of bicyclists across New York City are safer and, in the event of an accident, respected as human beings and a legitimate users of the city s roads who deserve and receive a thorough investigation.
Nothing is going to bring Lefevre back to life, but Lefevre could have been still alive if Degianni was part of a culture of self-preserving caution among motor vehicle operators. The reason why that culture doesn t exist is because motorists feel physically AND legally invincible.
We ve seen that the NYPD and the DA s offices have been reluctant or unable to make criminals out of motorists who are involved in fatal accidents. But the DMV typically waits for the outcome of criminal cases to implement any driving penalties. This is the first time I m hearing that a driver who wasn t officially charged with a criminal offense for a fatal accident is instead being provisionally suspended from his/her driving privileges. That s a steep penalty to pay for even an investigation, and much more so for a motorist who works as a commercial driver.
This is exactly what should happen after every accident of a questionable nature and the DMV is in a position travel nursing agency to use their powers increasingly to keep drivers of questionable ability (or morality) off of the roads.
Its a simple form filled out by cops and sent to the DMV. It informs DMV of a driver with issues. Questionable driving, fatal accidents, elderly drivers who lost their skills etc. DMV can suspend or bring in a driver for testing travel nursing agency etc. Having a drivers license is a privilege not a right.
1) A person behind the wheel *should* travel nursing agency have seen a person size object near their car, and the mere act of hitting the victim is irrefutable proof of negligence, leading travel nursing agency to automatic 5 year loss of license plus criminal charges, OR,
@8528cb6a255d5552f866292a64d03349:disqus Drivers of trucks, buses and other large vehicles can see you they just choose not to look (and the NYPD does not give them any particular incentive to look).
@Andrew_J_C:disqus : To be fair, the visibility of some of those crane trucks is shockingly limited. That does not excuse their operators, of course; when operating a vehicle with such limited visibility, one must apply commensurate extra care.
In any accident where a cyclist or walker is injured or killed, a crime has been committed. Blame automatically travel nursing agency rests on the car/truck operator involved with the accident. Blame is only shared with the vulnerable user if, after investigation, the victim is found to have committed an error, too. By placing the main onus on the operator of the larger, more dangerous vehicle, this German law (similar across much of Western Europe) gives each motorist a LEGAL reason to stop and wait for walkers and cyclists to pass safely before turning or passing them.
The law is behind the scenes but you feel it all the time as you bike and walk here just last night, during a rush hour ride home, a driver of a large truck waited for me to overtake travel nursing agency him on the right from behind before he turned. I said to myself, Wow. That would never happen at home!
Ian, from what I can tell from the accident videos, this appeared to be a flatbed truck with a crane attached to it, like a materials delivery truck, not one of those big huge construction cranes.  The cab of the truck looks like a standard truck cab, and the boon crane on the back should not restrict visibility in normal operations.
With the utmost respect and admiration to the Lefevre family, I still want to know if Mathieu was riding with lights on his bike.  I ve heard nothing in the coverage of this case confirming the use of a legal assortment of lights by Mathieu.  If he wasn t it would change everything.
(C) I doubt there s perfect evidence of this, but I think it s reasonable to believe that the truck driver passed Lefevre on at least that stretch of road immediately before travel nursing agency the crash. So even if Lefevre didn t have a light, the truck driver should ve seen him.
(E) I think we can all be certain that, thanks to the incompetence of the police, travel nursing agency we ll never know about any detail as minor as whether travel nursing agency he did or did not have lights. A huge truck dragged him and his bike along a poorly paved city road. My lights have come off on speed bumps. Something like that would erase their existence from the earth.
(G) I can t for the life of me see how Lefevre using or not using lights travel nursing agency would change everything. A huge truck hit him with his front tire after turning into him without signalling. That s the problem travel nursing agency the only one.
While it might be too much to say that it would change everything , it would certainly change something if he had been riding with no lights: he would have been riding in a riskier (and illegal) way, thus changing the balance of contributing factors the crash. I m not saying it would mean it would have been all his fault, but fault is often shared to some extent or another and is not always 100% vs 0% (despite what insurance companies travel nursing agency might say).
@qrt145:disqus I agree that it would ve changed *something*. I suppose part of it is that I can t get past my conviction only somewhat justified by the evidence so far presented travel nursing agency that the driver absolutely knew Lefevre was there and was just cutting him off out of the typical spite that people seem to often display when a bike passes them, gets passed by them, then passes them again, etc.
Thanks for the link.  You answered a long running question travel nursing agency of mine.  With amazing lighting technology, there is really no excuse not to be using bright LED lights for and aft these days.  Well lit streets won t get you seen by car drivers (I drive one too and the windshield does make much it harder to see unlit riders compared to being outside).
@2995d81157fecd50fe4b728419a38787:disqus I certainly agree about the value of lights. I have three: one the back of my bike, one on the back of my helmet, and one on my handlebars. And it bothers me as pedestrian and as a cyclist and an occasional driver when people don t use them.
I just don t think it s very relevant here but again, that s partially because I m convinced the truck driver had been playing tag with Lefevre for several travel nursing agency blocks and knew very well that he was there.
Brooklyn DA s Office Reviewing Mathieu Lefevre Hit-and-Run January 25, 2012 5 Family of Mathieu Lefevre Sues NYPD for Withholding Crash Information January 4, 2012 4 In Lefevre Case, NYPD Press Statements Don t Match NYPD Crash Report December travel nursing agency 1, 2011 13 Bypassing Courts, travel nursing agency NYPD Says Video Cleared Lefevre Hit-and-Run Driver March 12, 2012 12 NYPD Reportedly Lost Evidence Related to Crash That Killed Mathieu Lefevre December 19, 2011 15
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