Traffic Justice

In most of the United States, the general rule about harming people with automobiles goes like this: Stay at the scene, and if you're sober, you probably won't be looking at anything more substantial than a moving violation. Recent laws passed in Oregon, New York, and Delaware promise to hold motorists to a higher standard of care (if law enforcement employs the new tools), but one part of the country seems to be taking a step backward when it comes to condoning reckless driving.

The driver who ran down 13-year-old Sarah Parris in front of Canarsie High School will apparently face no charges, despite indications in published reports that he disregarded a stop sign extended by a school bus driver.

"Careless driving is unacceptable." That's the message that State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh delivered today as they announced that Hayley and Diego's Law, which they sponsored and ushered through the legislature, is now in effect.

Hayley and Diego's Law takes effect today, giving law enforcement a new tool to use against dangerous drivers. With this law, district attorneys throughout New York state can bring the charge of "careless driving" against motorists who irresponsibly injure pedestrians and cyclists.

On Friday evening, New York Governor David Paterson signed two bills intended to make streets safer by giving law enforcement greater leeway to bring charges against reckless drivers.

The only thing that can prevent the adoption of New York state's first "vulnerable users law" is Governor Paterson's veto pen. Hayley and Diego's Law, named in memory of two pre-schoolers killed by a van left idling by a Chinatown sidewalk, would make it easier for law enforcement to file charges against motorists who injure or kill pedestrians and cyclists. It will go into effect in a matter of days as long as the governor doesn't explicitly reject it.

Three days after 6-year-old Max Mendez was killed by an MTA tow truck operator while walking with his mother to the Wagner Pool at 124th Street, the story that's emerging suggests that motorist negligence may have contributed to the deadly collision. The only constant among the press coverage, however, is that the police suspect "no criminality."

The NYPD failed to follow up with at least one key witness in its investigation of the crash that killed Aileen McKay-Dalton earlier this month, according to a woman who saw the collision and stayed at the scene.

The death of Aileen McKay-Dalton, a mother of three who was struck and killed by an SUV driver while riding her Vespa earlier this month, has galvanized friends, neighbors, and Fort Greene residents trying to make sense of their sudden loss and the anemic NYPD response that followed.