Man on bike killed after colliding with charter bus

If you are a cyclist in New York City, chances are good that you may have heard about the Citi Bike ride-sharing program that has been in effect for the past four years.

On Monday, June 12, the program had its first rider fatality. A 36-year-old Brooklyn resident who originally hailed from Israel died on a Manhattan street after a cycling accident with a charter bus.

The father of two was pedaling the Citi Bike on 26th Street beside the bus when, according to reports, both he and the driver of the bus swerved to miss something in the street. This caused the cyclist to collide with the charter bus shortly after 8 a.m.

The impact from the bike-bus collision left the cyclist lying in the street beside the mangled bike, where the rear tires of the bus rolled over him, causing massive trauma.

Police arrived shortly after the accident and called for an ambulance to transport the man to Bellevue Hospital. Doctors pronounced him dead approximately two hours after his arrival in the Emergency Room.

The unidentified 52-year-old charter bus driver was not charged in the accident. He remained on the scene after the accident.

Eye witness reports all corroborate the allegations that the bus driver and cyclist both attempted to dodge something obstructing the roadway, although none specified what it may have been.

Citi Bikes bike-sharing system has roughly 10,000 bikes currently available to use in the metropolitan area, the New York Daily News reports. Even with this fatality, it still appears to be a safe program, as this was the first fatal accident in the approximate 43 million rides taken in New York City since May 2013.

If you get injured in an accident with a car while riding a bicycle in New York City, you may be able to pursue compensation from the at-fault driver or other negligent parties.