In recent years, injury
and even death, to pedestrians
in automobile-related
accidents has increased
drastically due to increasing
use of vehicles for travel as
well as the number of them
on the road at a single time.
Add that to the foot traffic of
any street, major or small,
especially in the City of New
York, and it is a recipe for
disaster. In one year, 76,000
pedestrians were injured
in vehicle-related accidents,
which means that roughly
one pedestrian was injured
every 7 minutes.
Drivers of automobiles are
often at fault for accidents in
which pedestrians are injured.
Driver fault examples
include drinking or drug
use, inattention due to the
use of cell phones or other
devices, and speeding. Other
types of accidents where the
driver is at fault include not
yielding to pedestrians while
turning, running a light or
stop sign, failing to notice a
pedestrian, and driving on
the sidewalk, all causing injuries
to pedestrians. Even
pedestrians who bear some
negligence or fault for their
accident are usually entitled
to a recovery, which will be
reduced by the pedestrian’s
percentage of fault.
Although no-fault auto
insurance coverage covers
some medical expenses and
loss of wages, they usually
do not cover all the expenses
involved for medical care
from some serious injuries
suffered in major accidents.
When the statutory requirement
for serious injuries
is met, an action can be
brought for compensation for
pain and suffering suffered
by a pedestrian in an auto
accident. No-fault benefits
usually cover up to $50,000
for medical expenses and
loss of wages. In addition to a
recovery for pain and suffering,
medical expenses and
loss of wages above the basis
of $50,000, no-fault limit can
be secured as well for victims
who suffer a “serious
injury.”
If you or a loved one were
the victim of a pedestrian
automobile accident, you
may be entitled to recover
damages in a lawsuit. You
should contact an attorney
immediately to discuss your
options.
COURIER L 20 IFE, FEB. 22–28, 2019 PS
WOODN’T YOU KNOW: A 40-year veteran of the wood business claims that the Squibb
Bridge’s black-locust wood is not to blame for the span’s recent structural problems, which
he claimed were the fault of other engineering issues. File photo by Jordan Rathkopf
Plank goodness!
Wood expert debunks Squibb Bridge decay
BY JULIANNE CUBA
Wood you look at that?
The sustainable and long-lasting
black-locust wood used to construct
the soon-to-be-demolished Squibb
Bridge to Brooklyn Bridge Park is
not to blame for the span’s structural
failures, despite meadow stewards’
claims, according to a wood expert
who supplies the timber for projects
across the country.
“It’s really not the wood’s fault
at all,” said Zach Rike, the founder
of North Carolina–based supplier
Robi Decking, and a self-described
40-year veteran of the business. “It
is easy for everyone to blame an inanimate
object, but nothing could be
further from the truth. The wood is
not to blame.”
Bigwigs at the semi-private Brooklyn
Bridge Park Corporation in July
closed the Squibb Bridge , which zigzags
between its namesake Squibb
Park and the waterfront lawn, for
the second time since it opened in
2013, claiming a single faulty piece
of black locust endangered locals
walking across the span. Months
later, green-space keepers in September
announced the bridge would
be shuttered indefi nitely because
a “higher than expected moisture
level” caused more than just one of
its planks to decay.
“Sadly, that one piece that showed
visual signs of problems is not the
only piece where we have deterioration,”
said Brooklyn Bridge Park
Corporation President Eric Landau,
president of the semi-private Brooklyn
Bridge Park Corporation.
And last December, meadow stewards
revealed they would spend millions
to replace the bridge originally
funded by taxpayer dollars, and construct
a new steel-and-aluminum
span in its place.
But Rike — who supplied the black
locust used to build the roof deck at
the Brooklyn Children’s Museum,
and other still-standing projects
across the city and country — challenged
Landau’s claim that the timber,
which is known for its ability to
withstand the harshest of elements,
simply rotted.
The expert argued that any deterioration
found in the wood was instead
the fault of the bridge’s designers,
who he said didn’t account for
how the timber reacts to changes in
climate, and too tightly fastened the
metal connectors at the end of each
plank, resulting in the deterioration.
“The issue with the bridge was
the design, and specifi cally the connectors
used. These connectors did
not allow for the wood to expand and
contract with moisture changes, and
when the wood had nowhere to expand,
it caused tension, and the wood
fi bers to press against each other,”
Rike said. “The wood did not rot. It’s
woodworking 101.”
Rike compared the need for space
between wood and connector to the
need for space between a fi nger and a
ring. When it’s cold out, a fi nger may
contract, but when it’s hot, that fi nger
will likely expand — and without
space to accommodate that growth,
a ring on that fi nger could quickly
cause problems, he said.
Continued on page 38