A woman was crossing E. 17 St. in Sheepshead Bay on Monday night when she was hit by a B36 bus. KEN MURRAY/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
There were 125 pedestrian fatalities in 2014, and 120 so far in 2015. Today’s victim was a devoted mother and grandmother carrying groceries to her adult daughter who is raising her children with no help from their father. This was an avoidable, fatal accident that killed a woman and devastated the lives of numerous dependents and kin. The added tragedy for most next of kin and dependents of these victims of motor-vehicle accident is that the vast majority of drivers carry inadequate liability insurance. New York State mandates minimum coverage of only $25,000 for private cars and $100,000 for taxis and livery vehicles. What good is $25,000 to replace services of a loving, dutiful mother and grandmother, or the financial support of a family’s main breadwinner? There isn’t a lot any of us can do to protect against inadequately insured drivers, but there is something. We can lobby our government for higher minimum coverage, and if we own a car, we can carry substantial “uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage”. That’s insurance coverage under your auto policy that can step in when you or someone in your household in injured by another motorist who does not have enough insurance coverage to compensate you for the loss or injury that they caused. It even applies if you are injured as a pedestrian by another motorist.
Article: Woman struck and killed by MTA bus while crossing Brooklyn street (New York Daily News, December 14, 2015)