This car-nage was spotted last night on East 70th Street at the corner of First Avenue and "OMFG ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!?" The sedan was stuck on top of a concrete barrier and the driver feared he couldn't move it off without ripping out the rest of his car's undercarriage. Road crews have been putting these pedestrian islands in First Avenue north of 60th Street for the past few weeks to create a physical barrier between traffic, the parking lane, and First Avenue's now-more-protected bike lane. The driver's wife told us that they had been away for the weekend and returned to discover the new traffic obstruction only when they drove over it with their new BMW. "Why isn't it painted yellow!?" she asked.
The woman has a point. The steel curb that wraps around the concrete island is painted battleship grey, albeit glossy battleship grey—not the most visible color for a traffic barrier. On the other hand, it's hard to muster sympathy for someone driving through the city who doesn't see something large enough to immobilize a car until after he's on top of it. Further inspection shows that the owners of the car may want to send a repair bill to the road crew who installed First Avenue's most recent pedestrian island, and walked away without bolting in the two visibility pylons that are featured on every single other concrete island that has been installed to its south this month.
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