Hoyt Jacobs
Aug. 5, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan
The truck driver who struck and killed a cyclist on Vernon Boulevard last year pleaded guilty to violating the victim’s right of way last month.
Frank Alibrandi, the driver, plowed into cyclist Hoyt Jacobs last year as he was making a right turn from Vernon Boulevard on to 41st Avenue. He will appear for a sentencing on September 22.
Alibrandi was turning right on 41st avenue on Jan. 17, 2015, around 7:15 p.m. when he hit Jacobs who was riding north on Vernon Boulevard.
Jacobs was dragged by the truck for 25 feet, and died on the scene, according to the crash report.
Alibrandi was charged under section 19-190, known as the Right of Way Law, which requires drivers to yield to pedestrians and cyclists.
Though his punishment is undetermined, Section 19-190 carries a fine of up $250 and a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail.
Albrandi was driving a truck for a private sanitation company, Manhattan Demolition.
Jacobs, 36, was a writer and worked as a tutor at New York City College of Technology.
Soon after Jacobs was struck in early 2015, Mayor Bill De Blasio announced a plan to fit more than 200 city trucks with guards between the front and back wheels to protect pedestrians and cyclists from being caught under the truck if struck.
This effort was undertaken as part of the Mayor’s “Vision Zero” initiative, aimed at increasing pedestrian and cyclist safety.
According to the Mayor’s office, trucks are only 3.6 percent of vehicles on the road in New York City, but collisions with trucks account for 12.3 percent of pedestrian fatalities and 32 percent of bicyclist fatalities.
Hoyt Jacobs was killed by a truck driver making a right turn from Vernon Boulevard onto 41st Ave. (Google Maps)
