Traffic Justice

Safe streets advocates are understandably excited by the prospect of a Manhattan district attorney with an interest in holding dangerous drivers accountable for the death and destruction they impose upon the city every day. But few, if any, expect radical change right away. As attendees at Tuesday's legal symposium on vehicular crime learned, even prosecutors who pursue the cause of traffic justice are often stymied by weak laws and courts that tend to be forgiving of motorists who maim and kill.

Judged by statistics on violent crime, New York may be the safest big city in America. But its amazingly low murder rate masks a less encouraging trend: With 300 city-wide road deaths a year, reckless driving now rivals homicide as a mortal threat.

Checkmate.

Next Tuesday's legal symposium on vehicular homicide, presented by Transportation Alternatives, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, will feature a prominent special guest: presumptive Manhattan DA-elect Cy Vance.

In the past 30 days, no fewer than seven pedestrians have been killed by motorists in New York City. True to form, the only drivers to face charges were those found to be intoxicated. The rest were granted instantaneous pardons by NYPD, several without as much as a blemish on their driving record.

Wednesday morning in Douglaston, Queens, an out-of-control driver plowed into a small crowd of commuters waiting for a Q30 bus. Witnesses say the as-yet-unidentified motorist, 17, was attempting to pass another vehicle when he lost control on rain-slicked Douglaston Parkway and jumped the curb. Reports vary, but of the approximately half-dozen people hit, several suffered serious injuries. Some victims were knocked through the back wall of the shelter, shattering the glass.

Here's another installment in what could ideally become a series on how police departments are doing right by pedestrians and cyclists. We posted the Chicago bike video a couple of weeks back. We now present the Sacramento crosswalk sting. (Warning: Insufferable Geico commercial may precede video.)

The garbage truck driver who struck and killed two British tourists in Manhattan last February was convicted on two counts of second-degree murder yesterday.

Street safety wasn't mentioned in today's Daily News piece about Cy Vance, but Manhattan's next district attorney made clear that he intends to pursue, as the News put it, a "fresh agenda." And after Transportation Alternatives literally brought Vance and his opponents to the table to discuss the plague of traffic crime, livable streets advocates have cause to expect major changes come January.