Badly Repaired Road Implicated in Crash that Killed a Senior Cyclist in Elmhurst

The cyclist may have hit this road defect, which Google photographed in October. Photo: Google
The cyclist may have hit this road defect, which Google photographed in October. Photo: Google

This one is on the city.

A Queens cyclist died after getting knocked off his bike after he hit a rough patch of badly repaired road on a residential street in Elmhurst late on Thursday night.

According to the NYPD, the cyclist, Lin Wen-Chiang, was riding westbound on one-block-long 40th Drive when he “rode over a rode obstruction,” toppled from his bike, struck his head and died.

Archival photos of the crash site show that at least through October 2021, a large patch of roadway was, indeed, damaged by city workers or an outside contractor working under the authority of the city sometime after October, 2019:

Before (October, 2019) and after (October, 2021). Photos: Google (Note, lighter patch in photo on the left is due to covering over Google's street name labeling.)
Before (October, 2019) and after (October, 2021). Photos: Google

Wen-Chiang is the third cyclist to die on New York City streets this year, part of an excessively bloody first two months of the Adams administration. Through Feb. 24, at least 35 people have died on the roads, up from 25 over the same period last year — and last year was the most deadly for road violence in the entire de Blasio administration.

The vast majority of the dead this year are pedestrians, with 20 killed so far this year, up from 15 over the same period last year.

Chart: DOT
Chart: DOT

This is a breaking story and will be updated shortly.

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