Omnipresent Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar recently said that electric bikes constitute a singular threat on the streets of New York City — but the real threat is ... Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar's driver.
The lawmaker — who is spotted so often at Mayor Adams's side that many people don't realize she represents only a small neighborhood in central Queens — was spotted on Wednesday inside a car that has been nabbed 10 times by city school-zone speed cameras since June 3, 2023, roughly 10 months ago.
At that rate, Rajkumar's driver is one of the city's most prolific speeders. Drivers only receive camera-issued tickets if they exceed the posted speed limit in school zones by 11 miles per hour or more.
A Streetsblog tipster saw Rajkumar get into the vehicle after this event in Bedford-Stuyvesant (far from her district) on Wednesday:
If this little-known Queens Assembly member is speeding, it's relevant for several reasons. First, she is omnipresent at mayoral events, even those a long way from her district. That means she's in a car, a lot. Plus, state lawmakers — like Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie with his own lead foot — have a slate of road safety initiatives before them, including allowing New York City to set its own speed limit as well as reauthorizing red light cameras.
Also, Rajkumar has made a personal crusade out of claiming that electric bikes are a singular danger on city streets.
But the bill she introduced to require electric bike registration — A9092 — is premised on an error. Both in her announcement of the bill and the bill itself, the Assembly member states that "in 2023, e-bikes caused more than 7,000 injuries in New York City." Rajkumar declined to discuss the bill, but a staffer told Streetsblog that the 7,000 number came from a WABC report that contained the line, "More than 7,200 people were injured this year in an e-bike or scooter accident [sic]. Four hundred ninety-four of the injuries were people walking, which increased from last year."
In fact, according to the city's own statistics, riders of electric bikes or "motorbikes," as they are sometimes classified, injured just 214 pedestrians last year. Another 131 pedestrians were injured by motorized vehicles, such as mopeds, that are not covered by Rajkumar's bill. Of the remaining injuries to pedestrians, 8,651 were caused by car and truck drivers, none of whom are covered by Rajkumar's bill.
Streetsblog has repeatedly asked Mayor Adams and City Hall where the mayor stands on the bill put forward by the pol most frequently standing by him. We've been told the bill is under review.
Is it? On Monday, Rajkumar was front and center at an Adams town hall meeting ... in Morningside Heights, about as far from Rajkumar's district as you can get yet still be in New York City. With the mayor standing nearby, the Assembly member continued her assault on e-bikes.
"We have to get rid of the e-bike problem," she said. "They're opening up opportunities, but it's also a safety hazard on the road. There have been a record number of ... injuries due to these e-bikes."
Since 2014, when the Vision Zero era began, until the end of 2023, 2,564 people were killed by on New York City streets. Over that period, 2,550 — or 99.4 percent — were killed by car and truck drivers. And 14 pedestrians — or 0.5 percent — were killed by cyclists (figure includes regular bike riders, not just e-bike riders).
Rajkumar declined to comment for this story.
Update 1: After initial publication of this story, and still not responding to our request for comment, Rajkumar's spokesperson attacked the reporter on Twitter:
Update 2: Streetsblog has now confirmed that the car belongs to the Assembly member's chief of staff, Vjola Isufaj. Another email to the Assembly member seeking comment on her staffer's reckless driving was not answered.
