Cops who drive recklessly — and there are thousands of them, according to Streetsblog's ongoing investigation — would be kicked off the road just like everyone else under a pending bill by Council Member Brad Lander that allows authorities to impound the vehicles of repeat traffic camera violators, the pol said on Thursday.
“There’s no exemption for NYPD officers in the legislation,” Lander told Streetsblog last week, after the website printed a half-dozen articles revealing that nearly 40 percent of police employees have multiple moving violations on their records — and that scores of police officials have so many violations that their cars could be impounded if Lander's bill, also known as the Reckless Driver Accountability Act, becomes law.
“They would be covered by this law. It would absolutely cover NYPD officers and taxi drivers and City Council members,” said Lander, referring to Council Member Jumaane Williams, who got caught 27 times for speeding by school-zone cameras.
Lander has estimated that only about one percent of drivers have more than four camera violations — the equivalent of 26,000 cars. Based on Streetsblog’s reports, it's clear cops — who are sworn to protect us — are actually the ones we need to be protected from.
“It sure looks like from what you've captured, from the things you’ve taken so far, that the average car parked at an NYPD precinct is a much more reckless driver than the average New Yorker. That’s disturbing all by itself," said Lander. "These are people who have a responsibility for keeping our streets safe and that includes from traffic fatalities as well as from other crimes."
Lander has been pushing Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg to work with him to get his bill enacted, soon, before more people are killed. Trottenberg has said she supports the bill, officially known as Intro. 971, which would allow the city to boot or impound vehicles that get five or more speeding or red-light camera violations within any 12-month period. Drivers would be able to get their cars back after completing a traffic safety course.
Lander wasn't targeting cops when he wrote the bill in June after a driver with repeated camera violations killed two kids on Ninth Street in Park Slope. But the killer in that case, driver Dorothy Bruns had racked up eight red-light and speed camera violations — yet was still behind the wheel of her car.
Still, cops are among the worst repeat offenders, Streetsblog's investigation revealed. Roughly 38 percent of cops' private vehicles surveyed by Streetsblog have been hit multiple times for speeding or red light tickets. That's almost double the rate of every day folk, the website revealed.
“We've done an enormous amount of street redesign it's been very successful," Lander said. "Now we need to move directly to [get] these most dangerous, sociopathic drivers off the road."
