Traffic Enforcement

The City Council Transportation Committee is on a mission to bring bike delivery workers into compliance with traffic laws, but council members appear unsure as to how to go about it.

NYPD issued more summonses for open container violations than for speeding in 2011, one of a number of law enforcement oddities revealed through data issued by police and compiled from court records.

Here's a screenshot from a snippet of video taken by an eagle-eyed reader at Northern Boulevard and 82nd Street in Queens. The construction workers who programmed this display look to be unknowingly putting themselves in danger by allowing motorists an extra five miles per hour. They have company at the top: None other than NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly flubbed a question about the city's speed limit while testifying before City Council in 1993.

After Gothamist posted a video of motorists ignoring the new left-turn ban at Delancey and Essex, we contacted NYPD to ask about traffic enforcement at one of Manhattan's most notorious intersections. We're still waiting to hear back. In the meantime, judging from this video by ANIMAL New York, it looks like police are not only not ticketing drivers who continue to put lives at risk while making illegal turns, but are joining in on the fun. See how many Delancey Kong points are racked up over the course of an hour by cops and civilians alike.

A new report from Transportation Alternatives finds that, while NYPD fails to rein in or punish reckless driving, the majority of pedestrian and cyclist fatalities are caused by illegal behavior behind the wheel.

Here's an argument for using cameras to enforce traffic laws: getting cops like this off of the traffic beat.

Last Thursday, City Council members held another press event on electric bikes. A bill introduced by Dan Garodnick would double the fine for riding an e-bike on the sidewalk from $100 to $200, according to a DNAinfo report, while the penalty for running a red light would go as high as $900.

Following the launch of the city's first 20 mph zone in the Claremont section of the Bronx last year, NYC DOT has selected 13 more areas to receive the "slow zone" treatment (see the full list), Mayor Michael Bloomberg and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan announced this afternoon. DOT was inundated with applications for slow zones after the agency announced the program in November, and Sadik-Khan said more neighborhoods would be able to opt in next year.

The Times ran a story yesterday on the supposedly improving outlook for state speed camera legislation. The bills have failed to gain traction in Albany for several years running and have yet to clear either house this session, though the Senate version has picked up a sponsor in Staten Island Republican Andrew Lanza.