July 6, 2015 NY Taxi Accident Attorney Supports Cab Safety Improvements An NY Taxi Accident is More Dangerous Than a Private Car Crash The NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission found that 600,000 people ride in New York City taxis every day. That means 236 million taxi rides happen every year. And although taxi accidents are less common than accidents in private cars, the injury rate for taxi passengers is higher than for private passengers. In a head-on crash, the force of the impact throws a taxi rider face first into the hard partition between the front and back seats of the taxi. According to a 2013 Notice by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, the partition does not come standard. Cabbies add the partition, which can change the structural integrity of the vehicle, upset airbag deployment, and change safety features in side impacts. That means taxis were NOT crash tested with the partition. The hard plastic partition in taxis causes telltale injuries to passengers in NY taxi accidents. In 2013, medical doctors testified at a NYC TLC hearing regarding telltale injuries from the partition. Riders suffer broken noses, face fractures, fractured orbitals, lacerations, cuts and disfiguring facial injuries. Edges on the partition also can tear skin and leave scars. Even wearing a seatbelt will not necessarily prevent a partition injury in a taxi accident. Bicyclists are also about twice as likely to get into an accident with cabs than with private vehicles because passengers frequently enter and exit taxis near bike lanes. And one unsettling fact: Only 2% of yellow taxis are wheelchair accessible. NYC Taxi Accident Liability Insurance Limits Available Relief to Victims According to the NYC TLC, NY taxis need to have at least 100,000/300,000 in liability insurance to compensate injury victims. In other words, any taxi in an accident must have enough insurance to pay for up to $100,000 in personal injury damages to hurt individuals and $300,000 in total accident or injury costs. Unfortunately, as the statistics showed above, taxi accidents are more likely to involve serious injuries than private cars. And serious accidents that involve disfigurement, broken bones, and death cost far more than $100,000. NYC Yellow Taxis are Not One Corporation. Their Resources are Limited. To operate a yellow taxi in NYC, drivers or fleet owners must buy a “medallion.” A medallion is the right to run a yellow taxi. Recently, medallions prices have reached $800,000 to $1 million. Since medallions can be very expensive, drivers and fleet owners buy them like people buy houses–with a bank loan or mortgage. 50,000 taxi drivers operate taxis in NYC but there are only 13,437 medallions issued. That means if your taxi driver hurts you in an accident, there is about 1/5th chance the driver actually has a major asset (the medallion) above $100,000 in insurance to pay relief if you get seriously hurt. That 1/5th fraction may be smaller since many medallions are mortgaged. NY Taxi Laws Say Passengers do not Have to Wear Seat Belts. The NYC TLC specifically holds that passengers in livery vehicles, like NY taxis, do not need to wear seat belts. Culture has followed the law. According to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, about 90% of people use seat belts in private cars, but surveys show that only about 38% of NY taxi passengers wear seat belts. NY Taxi Accident Attorneys Use the Law to Help Hurt Passengers In any accident case, parties need evidence. In NY Taxi accidents, evidence is not always easy to find. The NYPD will not usually ticket negligent drivers. According to streetsblog.org, in 2012, only 101 tickets were injured in over 14,000 accidents involving cars and pedestrians. Witnesses also may be hard to find. About 70% of taxi rides have just one passenger. The bottom line is what the New York Times reported Brooklyn counsel woman Laurie Cumbo has said about taxi safety: “Once you step into a cab and the doors are locked, you are very much at the will of the driver.” She was taking about the risk of attack but the same can be said about driving accidents. Fisher Injury Lawyers supports making more resources available to people who are injured in NY taxi accidents. Increase the required liability insurance amounts on NYC taxis so they can afford to compensate seriously injured people. Make taxi partitions safer. Improve crash testing to include tests that involve the taxi partitions and warn passengers to use seatbelts. If you were hurt in an NY taxi accident, an NY Taxi Accident Attorney who has the resources to identify taxi injuries, can help you get treated fairly. by Clifford Tucker All 0 1
