Two men are dead after a head-on collision between an illegal high-speed electric scooter and a bicycle on the Queensboro Bridge in New York City on Thursday.
Police say the scooter rider, 39-year-old Francis Delvalle of New Jersey, was traveling westbound in the bike lane when he lost control and hit 35-year-old cyclist Dmytro Stechenko from New York, who was heading eastbound. Both were thrown from their vehicles and suffered severe trauma. They were rushed to Cornell Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
The Teverun Blade GT Scooter Delvalle was riding is illegal for street use in New York City. It has a top speed of 85 km/h and can accelerate from 0 to 85 km/h in under 4 seconds. The city’s legal speed limit for electric bikes and scooters is just 24 km/h.
Department of Transportation spokesperson Vincent Barone said the scooter should not have been on any city street or bike path. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office called the tragedy a grim reminder that illegal high-speed micromobility devices are dangerous and have no place on city roadways.
Advocates are calling for action. Ben Furnas of Transportation Alternatives said crashes like this are preventable and urged the City Council to pass the “Ride Safe, Ride Right” bill to ban the most dangerous devices. Roz Gianutsos of Families for Safe Streets said speed is deadly and that no one should know this kind of pain.
The Queensboro Bridge underwent a redesign just over a year ago to separate bike and pedestrian traffic, but this collision shows the ongoing danger from illegal vehicles.
The investigation by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad is ongoing.