Traffic Enforcement

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.

A Brooklyn motorist who jumped a curb, fatally injured a pedestrian and crashed into a restaurant while attempting to park her minivan last week will likely not receive as much as a traffic ticket, according to NYPD.

Here's how unconcerned the New York Police Department is with deadly traffic violations: For at least a month, and possibly longer, reports DNAinfo, Brooklyn's 76th Precinct went without a radar gun.

The City Council has concluded it cannot require NYPD to fully investigate traffic crashes, despite indications that current department protocols may violate state law.

In the first few seconds of this video, when you see the cop in the unmarked NYPD cruiser hit the siren and edge through a Manhattan intersection, stopping traffic before he steps on the gas, you may wonder: Is there a bank robbery in progress? A call of shots fired?

An informal survey conducted by the Daily News suggests that many trucking companies and truck drivers are ignoring the state's four-month-old crossover mirror law, and that police are not enforcing the safety measure.

Yesterday, Chicago's Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance that would allow speeding enforcement cameras to blanket up to half the city. Here in New York, Deborah Glick's bill to allow up to a mere 40 speed cameras remains stuck in Albany limbo, with 24 co-sponsors in the Assembly but none in the State Senate. Can Chicago show New York City what it takes to prevent injuries and deaths by hold speeding motorists accountable?