Transportation Alternatives Statement in Response to Delivery Cyclist Killed by Hit-and-Run SUV Driver

On Sunday afternoon, the driver of a Chevrolet Tahoe SUV struck and killed 42-year-old delivery cyclist Ernesto Guzman at Second Avenue and East 97th Street in Manhattan, left the scene and abandoned the vehicle a few blocks away. 

Statement of Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris:

“A driver wielding a 5,500-pound Chevrolet Tahoe SUV has killed a working cyclist who was delivering food on the Upper East Side on Sunday. The victim, identified as Ernesto Guzman, is at least the 20th person to die while riding a bicycle, and at least the 206th person killed by traffic violence, to date this year in New York City.

Delivery cyclists have been on the front lines of this pandemic, and food delivery remains one of the most dangerous jobs in New York precisely because of constant exposure to impatient drivers piloting multi-ton assault vehicles on streets designed to move and store cars.  

Guzman’s death is not an accident, but the predictable and preventable result of the mayor slashing the Vision Zero and Green Wave Plan budgets, and delaying the rollout of the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program and the Streets Master Plan. The New York City Department of Transportation has the tools to deliver safer streets, but as long as the mayor holds them back, all New Yorkers are stuck with a system that prioritizes the convenience of drivers over human life.”