Traffic Enforcement

The crashes that killed two pedestrians since Wednesday morning follow a string of incidents last week that resulted in the deaths of five vulnerable street users. In all, seven pedestrians and one cyclist are known to have died in New York City traffic since February 7. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, meanwhile, couldn't be troubled to attend the City Council hearing last week examining NYPD traffic enforcement and crash investigations.

A lot of notable statistics surfaced at Wednesday's City Council hearing on NYPD traffic enforcement. Many of them paint a picture of a department that devotes relatively little effort to combating traffic crime, while failing to distinguish vehicles that weigh a couple-dozen pounds from those weighing several tons. Here's a rundown:

The City Council is holding a first-of-its-kind hearing on NYPD crash investigations today, a joint effort of the transportation and public safety committees. Based on the early reports via Twitter, it sounds like council members are holding NYPD's feet to the fire for failing to investigate serious crashes and letting motorists off the hook for the harm they cause.

In 2010, State Senator Dan Squadron and Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh stood on the corner of Essex and Delancey Streets to tell motorists: "Careless driving is unacceptable." Said Kavanagh, "You can suffer serious consequences."

Next Wednesday, February 15, is the date for Council Member Peter Vallone's hearing on traffic safety.

The City Council is again looking to placate scofflaw drivers. This time, Council Member David Greenfield of Brooklyn wants to limit cases in which the city can tow vehicles belonging to drivers who have racked up hundreds of dollars in unpaid parking fines. DNAinfo has the story:

The Village Voice reports that Peter Vallone, chair of the City Council's public safety committee, is planning a hearing on traffic enforcement.

Last month we noted that Ray Kelly's NYPD made a highly visible show of bike enforcement in Prospect Park in response to a pair of crashes where cyclists injured pedestrians. Normally, police don't react so decisively to locations with high crash rates, but in Prospect Park, the 78th quickly handed out more tickets to cyclists at one spot than they do to speeding motorists in the whole precinct in an average month.

Walk out on any New York City street and you're likely to find rampant disregard for traffic laws. Pinpointing exactly who's speeding requires special equipment, but for many offenses, you can track the level of lawlessness with the naked eye.