Ambulance 4 Hours Late To Aid Roosevelt Island Tram Rider And Worker Injured Slipping On Ice At Tram Station Ramp This Morning
At about 7:30 this morning, a woman was injured slipping on the ice coated Roosevelt Island Tram station ramp. A Tram worker came to the injured woman's assistance and also slipped on the ramp causing an injury to her back.
Both injured people were instructed to stay on the ground because of their potential injuries. They remained lying on the Tram Station ramp, in the rain, covered by a tarp until an ambulance arrived at approximately 11:30 to take them to the hospital.
It was a very dangerous and accident filled day causing delays in EMS response.
Dangerous. RT @NYCityAlerts: EMS is backlogged over 500+ calls due to icing cond. @NYCFireWire
— Zach Tumin (@ZachTumin) January 18, 2015
Also, reported earlier today on a traffic accident at the Roosevelt Island Bridge Helix caused by icy road conditions.
Image of Roosevelt Island Bridge Helix Traffic Accident This Morning
Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Public Safety Director Jack McManus reports on today's icy Roosevelt Island road conditions:
There was a 6 car pile-up on the RI bridge with no injuries and minor damage to several vehicles.There is a discrepancy whether the Tram worker was injured attempting to help the Tram Rider or vice versa.
Two women suffered slip and fall injuries on the Tram ramp. One was a Tram employee and the second was a visiting nurse who fell while attempting to help the female Tram employee up. Both women were removed by ambulance to Cornell-Weil Medical Center for evaluation and follow-up.
A Public Safety Officer was injured when he slipped and fell after exiting his vehicle while responding to the initial accident on the bridge.
The Grounds Department and the Sanitation Department have been addressing the icy roads with sand and salt.
In anticipation of potential problems this evening, we are checking the ramp and the bridge on the half hour, and maintaining a dialogue with the Department of Sanitation who has committed to assist us if the need arises.
A Roosevelt Island resident said about today's icy conditions:
Walking on Main St. pretty dangerous as well, wear shoes with some traction or else you'll be a human hydroplane. I saw it happen this morning, poor guy.
2 comments :
Despite its location in the center of NYC, RI isn't as much a heat island as the rest of the City - the Island's location in the E. River means it's more exposed to the wind and it's often chillier than other areas of the City. Thus RIOC cannot exactly rely on what the rest of the City or the Dept. of Sanitation is doing with regard to spreading salt or sand. I'm sorry to hear about all the mishaps earlier today but RIOC or RIOC-PSD or whoever is in charge of roadway/sidewalk safety over the weekend has to figure that the temperature/wind chill is going to be a little lower on RI than what's predicted for the City, and figure that to be on the safe side, even if salt or sand isn't being applied in the other boroughs, it may need to be applied on RI (obviously that was the case today). If Indelicato isn't around on a Sunday, then someone has to coordinate getting the RIOC grounds people to spread salt/sand on roadways and sidewalks and alert building owners, MTA, etc, to do the same.
Although thank God none of the accidents sound life-threatening, it actually doesn't take much for an accident to have a highly adverse impact on a patient depending on their age, for example, or even for a younger person in some instances. Also - the motorists involved in the pile-up: Even if they didn't need to go to the hospital to be evaluated, they are faced with hundreds of dollars of car repairs and may blame RIOC for not having applied salt to the ramp thus the iciness led to a road hazard and the subsequent accidents which could have been avoided had RIOC done its job.
The same thing with all the people who slipped and fell - depending on the degree of their injuries and so forth, they may blame RIOC for not having applied salt to the tram station ramp, or the streets or sidewalks. I know someone who successfully sued RIOC after they broke their leg de-boarding a red bus that had not sufficiently pulled up to the curb - they slipped into the gutter and fell between the curb and the bus on I believe a rainy night. Of course the sum of money the unfortunate person got probably didn't make up for the weeks of pain, suffering, having to walk around on crutches, physical therapy, and so forth. These sorts of problems are common throughout the subway system - of people falling etc and suing the MTA - as common as people slipping and falling on sidewalks and suing building owners. The difference with today's falls and accidents is that the injuries, pain and suffering and possible long-term sequelae of all of them could have been avoided had RIOC been able to coordinate applying salt/sand to the roadways, ramps, sidewalks, public plazas they are responsible for and also alert building owners, MTA, the hospital, etc of the icy conditions on the sidewalks/public plazas they are responsible for.
It is highly unfortunate that legit community organizations must suffer at the hands of so called power struck "community leaders" that rigg the entire process. . Most residents do not blame the NYS Authorities Budget Office for implementing this new policy guide. There have been many community organizations on this very Island for years misrepresenting their mission and purpose just for a quick financial gain. Then low and behold without conducting a rigorous screening and providing adequate oversight of these organizations , RIOC just issues the check. Not to mention allowing RIRA to pass final judgement of who gets what. This funding was poorly managed.
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