Traffic Enforcement

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the adoption of Hayley and Diego's Law, which established the charge of "careless driving" in New York State and gave police and prosecutors a new tool to hold motorists who injure pedestrians and cyclists accountable. Unfortunately, says Transportation Alternatives, over the past 12 months the law has gone largely unenforced by NYPD.

Had to share this message from Daily News reader Ken Douglas in response to the opinion piece I wrote with Dr. Linda Prine about the health and safety benefits of complete streets. Our essay focused on the engineering side of the street safety equation -- street designs like bike lanes and curb extensions that are under NYC DOT's control. Ken wrote in to point out that better enforcement and education will also prevent pedestrians from getting killed and seriously injured.

We'll overlook the number of contortions performed by the Daily News to make today's report on the success of red light cameras look like a "he said she said" story. It's simply not a surprise when the city press corps assigns comparable weight to the wishes of motorists to break the law with impunity and the right of pedestrians and cyclists -- and, in this case, other drivers -- to reach their destinations in one piece.

Top NYPD brass expressed surprise at West Side residents' unhappiness with the department's traffic enforcement policies and vowed to do better at a meeting of Manhattan CB 4's transportation committee last night. They also announced a new citywide "pedestrians first" policy for the department.

Mayor Bloomberg's budget proposal, which was released today, still includes a plan to increase parking meter rates across the city, a plan which the City Council scuttled once in January. The transportation budget also includes an increase in revenue from an expansion of the city's red light camera program.

Legislation allowing the city to curb deadly driving through the use of speed enforcement cameras will soon resurface in Albany.

It may now be safe for cyclists who want to get some exercise -- as opposed to waiting for lights to turn green or for officers to finish writing $270 tickets -- to return to Central Park.

If you want to get the attention of the New York news media, the formula apparently goes something like so. Step one: turn a personal pet peeve into a matter of public record by filing a baseless lawsuit. Step two: watch reporters beat a path to your door.

Just about every New Yorker knows off the top of their head exactly what the most dangerous intersections in their neighborhood are (for me, it's got to be the western end of 125th Street). But what most New Yorkers don't know is what to do about it. Now, thanks to Transportation Alternatives' new Neighborhood Traffic Monitoring Toolkit [PDF], there's a step-by-step guide for citizens to track traffic violations on their streets and press community leaders to improve street safety.