Citi Bike rider killed on East 85th Street by Madison Avenue
Carling Mott, 28, died after a July 26, 2022 crash at East 85th Street and Madison Avenue, where police told the Post she fell from a Citi Bike beside a tractor-trailer as the light turned green.
What We Know
Carling Mott was riding west on East 85th Street toward Madison Avenue on July 26, 2022, when police told the Post she fell from her Citi Bike as the light turned green and was hit beside a tractor-trailer. The official record lists one bicyclist killed and no other injuries. The Post reported that the tractor-trailer driver stayed at the scene and faced no criminal charges as of the next day. The article also noted that a 2016 city plan for painted bike lanes on East 85th Street and nearby Upper East Side blocks had been stopped after opposition from residents and elected officials.
What police and the crash record say happened
The crash happened at about 10:49 a.m. on July 26, 2022, at East 85th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan. The official record lists a 28-year-old female bicyclist killed, with no other injuries reported.
The Post, citing police, reported that Carling Mott was riding a Citi Bike west on East 85th Street toward Madison Avenue. Police said she fell from the bike as the light turned green and was hit beside a tractor-trailer driver who had also been headed west.
Carling Mott was taken to Weill Cornell
The Post identified the bicyclist as Carling Mott, 28, and reported that she lived less than a mile from the crash scene in Yorkville. She was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she could not be saved.
Records differ on the tractor-trailer description
The official crash record describes the vehicles as a gasoline tractor truck and a bike, both traveling west and going straight ahead before the crash. The Post, citing police, described the truck as a 2017 Great Dane tractor-trailer; the official record identifies a 2020 FRHT truck/bus.
The record points to bicyclist error; police gave no fuller public explanation
The city crash record lists “Pedestrian/Bicyclist/Other Pedestrian Error/Confusion” as a contributing factor for the bike. The Post reported that police said Mott fell from the Citi Bike for reasons they did not explain.
East 85th Street meets a high-crash Madison Avenue corridor
The crash occurred at East 85th Street and Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side. CrashCountNYC’s location context for Madison Avenue in Manhattan counts 1,457 crashes, 782 injuries, 61 serious injuries and 2 deaths since 2022.
The driver stayed, and past bike-lane opposition drew scrutiny
The Post reported that the tractor-trailer driver stayed at the scene and was not facing criminal charges as of Wednesday evening, the day after the crash.
The article also connected the death to an earlier street-design fight: in 2016, the city Department of Transportation tried to add painted bike lanes to East 85th Street and several nearby Upper East Side blocks. The Post reported that residents objected and that Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney urged a Community Board 8 transportation committee co-chair to block the plan, citing school security concerns on East 85th and East 84th streets.