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By Will Bredderman
Brooklyn Daily
The intersection of Fourth Avenue and 86th Street looked like a demolition derby on Saturday afternoon, after a pair of vehicles slammed into each other, sending one driver to the hospital.
A Sunset Park-bound car traveling on Fourth Avenue plowed into the side of a vehicle making a left turn onto 86th Street at 4:10 pm, said police. Our photographer Stefano Giovannini happened to be there when the collision occurred, and said the front end of the first vehicle completely caved in, while the second one rolled over onto the sidewalk.
“I was taking a photo of a cafe and I looked up and saw the collision,” said Giovannini. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was a really terrible accident.”
Police said the two drivers gave differing accounts of how the collision took place, with both claiming to have been driving innocently when the other motorist made a rash action.
“The driver making the turn said she looked and didn’t see any cars, and the other person just hit her,” a police source said. “Driver two said he was traveling north when the other driver suddenly turned, causing him to hit her.”
Police said the driver who was trying to turn — a 44-year-old woman — complained of foot and ankle pain following the accident and an ambulance brought her to Lutheran Medical Center on 55th Street between First and Second avenues. The insider added that there was no evidence that either driver had violated any law, as both had a green light, but predicted the case would land in civil court — and that the woman taken to the hospital would end up taking the blame.
“Right now it’s up to their lawyers to work it out,” the source said. “Most likely, it’ll be on the person turning left, because the other one was just going straight.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — a federal agency which seeks to reduce the number of car crashes — declared the six-mile thoroughfare the third most dangerous road in Brooklyn, tied with Avenue U and Eastern Parkway. However, many in Bay Ridge have resisted plans to alter the corridor, and Community Board 10 rejected a plan that would have banned left-hand turns from Fourth Avenue onto 86th Street in March.
Reach reporter Will Bredderman at (718) 260–4507 or e-mail him at wbredderman@cnglocal.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/WillBredderman