4 Hurt After Queens Driver Hits Car, Cyclist Then Flees: Video

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — An out-of-control van driver in Queens Monday rear-ended a car, slammed into a cyclist, then raced off, according to police and a video of the crash posted on social media. The hit-and-run left four people injured, police said.

The unidentified driver was heading north on Greenpoint Avenue about 6 p.m. when the person rear-ended a Toyota van, whose driver then rear-ended the car in front of him, then swerved around the two cars and hit a cyclist waiting at a red light at Borden Avenue, an NYPD spokesperson said.

First responders rushed the cyclist, one driver and two passengers, including a two-year-old boy, to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition, the spokesperson added.

Cyclist John Farrell, whose video last week of a Queens Boulevard driver running a stop sign and hitting him went viral, was riding along Greenpoint Avenue at the time of the crash and got the incident on video, which his wife posted on Twitter.

Last week's video highlighted the dangerous design of NYC bike lanes. Today a cyclist in a bike lane (yes, that's a bike lane) sandwiched between two driving lanes was rear-ended by a van. #VisionZero appropriately describes the street lighting. @StreetsblogNYC @TransAlt @NYC_DOT pic.twitter.com/L1XvWf7YY6
— Jessica (@Thund3r_H4wk) November 12, 2019

Cyclists have long complained about drivers speeding on Greenpoint Avenue, according to Streetsblog.

The bike lane that runs along that stretch is unprotected and sandwiched between two lanes of cars.

There were 19 crashes along Greenpoint Avenue between the LIE and the bridge to Brooklyn as of Sept. 30, according to city data. That's up from 12 crashes on the same stretch in all of 2018, the data shows.

On Twitter, one cyclist referred to the area as a "horrible murder strip."

Indeed, it's a horrible murder strip (quite literally), and @NYC_DOT knows it. I expect to get killed there every single time I ride home from Brooklyn. It's harrowing, drivers there are 'speed drunk' from crossing Greenpoint Ave bridge at >60mph.
— Radlerkönigin (@radlerkoenigin) November 12, 2019