UPPER EAST SIDE — A man was struck by an SUV Saturday at the same construction-heavy intersection where a woman was killed by a school bus only days earlier, sparking concerns over the placement of worksite equipment at the corner.
On Saturday, a vehicle hit a pedestrian at East 93rd Street and Second Avenue shortly before 10 a.m., sending him to the hospital with unknown injuries, officials and witnesses said.
Less than two days earlier, an unidentified woman was fatally struck by a school bus at the same intersection, where fences and concrete barriers jutting out into the street have been set up during construction on the Second Avenue Subway.
In the weekend crash, an SUV was attempting to make a left turn from East 93rd Street onto Second Avenue when it struck an older man as he crossed the avenue, witnesses said. An ambulance took the victim, who witnesses said appeared to be conscious but complained of severe leg pain, to New York Presbyterian Hospital, the FDNY said.
Locals who saw the deadly Thursday crash said the victim was crossing East 93rd Street when the school bus, which was turning onto Second Avenue, reversed and ran her over.
Witnesses said the back-to-back accidents could be related to the placement of construction equipment at the intersection, where crossing guards were stationed after the Saturday crash.
“A lot of people are blaming the construction because it obscures the view of both drivers and pedestrians,” said doorman Jay Parker, who works at the Waterford at the corner of East 93rd Street and Second Avenue.
Idris Payne, who works the front desk at Synergy Gym on the opposite corner of the Waterford, said that the ongoing construction was confusing for pedestrians and drivers.
“Ever since they started the construction, they’re always changing the barriers," he said. "They move them back and forth every time they do something new, so people don’t know how far forward or back they need to be."
Parker said crossing guards worked the corner when the project began, but that they hadn’t been stationed there in several years before the weekend crash.
According to data compiled by advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, there have been seven traffic-related injuries at the intersection between August 2011 and February 2013. Six of the injured were vehicle drivers or passengers, while one was a cyclist, data showed. Before last week, no pedestrian injuries or fatalities had been reported at the site in several years.
One of the crossing guards at the site on Monday said that they would be at the intersection seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The MTA assigned a team to the location as a precautionary measure, an agency spokesman said.
"Our inspections showed clear lines of sight, all signals in working order and clearly marked crosswalks," the spokesman said. "There was nothing to indicate the project had anything to do with the accidents."
