While some precincts are ramping up failure-to-yield stings and disavowing jaywalking tickets, not every NYPD outpost has moved beyond the shoot-fish-in-a-barrel approach to traffic enforcement.
The latest traffic operation from the precinct covering Jackson Heights, North Corona and East Elmhurst had a familiar target: Bicycle violations were the top category of summons issued. Meanwhile, there's no mention of the top cause of fatal crashes in New York City -- speeding drivers.
According to a newsletter from the office of Council Member Daniel Dromm -- under a section with the unfortunate title "Good Job 115th Precinct!" -- a precinct operation this month issued 62 moving violations. "Bicycle moving violations" led the way with 32 tickets issued:
Last week, the 115th Precinct under the direction of Deputy Inspector Michael Cody conducted an operation in the area of 73rd Street and 37th Avenue resulting in 23 summonses for horn honking, 22 double parking violations, 2 handicap parking violations and 1 unlicensed operator violation.
Also, officers under the direction of Lieutenant Shapiro conducted a second initiative with the goal of issuing appropriate traffic violations to ensure the safety of pedestrians.
This operation resulted in 25 parking violations and 62 moving violations. Below is a breakdown of the violations issued: 32 bicycle moving violations, 19 double parking violations, 17 unlicensed operator violations, 9 fail to yield to pedestrians violations, 6 bus stop parking violations, 3 failure to wear seat belts violations [and] 1 driving while using a cell phone violation.
Apparently, no speeding tickets were issued. Last year, the 115th Precinct issued 193 speeding tickets -- about one every other day [PDF]. Speeding is the leading cause of fatal crashes in New York City, and failure to yield to pedestrians was the leading cause of crashes resulting in injuries in 2011.
Last year, 178 pedestrians and cyclists were killed, and 16,059 injured, by drivers in NYC. A bicyclist has not killed a pedestrian in New York City in nearly five years.
Because NYPD's monthly data releases show only the number of tickets each precinct issues and not who receives them, it can be hard to figure out how much of a precinct's traffic enforcement is actually targeted at cyclists and not at deadly driving behaviors. But once in a while, a precinct will break out the data. The Upper East Side precinct, for example, issued nearly half of its red light tickets to cyclists in 2012.
Deputy Inspector Cody, the 115th Precinct's commanding officer, attended a traffic safety town hall in the neighborhood on Sunday where parents of school children spoke up for better traffic enforcement and street design.
The 115th Precinct's community council meetings are held the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. at the precinct house, 92-15 Northern Boulevard. Call the precinct at (718) 533-2010 for more information.
