Walking and biking around yesterday, (car) traffic was acting much more aggressively (read: psychopathic) than usual last night. This made me quite angry, as it seems these drivers didn't notice the thousands of kids out trick-or-treating. Of course, though the cops were out in force, they didn't seem to be enforcing any traffic laws.

Why do we accept this as status quo?

Mike -- I had the same concern last night as I was biking home, and actually confronted an SUV driver who I'd seen speeding down Bleecker St. as hundreds of toddlers were out trick-or-treating. I tried the courteous tack and politely asked the driver to please slow down as he was endangering all the little kids. He just laughed me off.

Sigh. How can we get drivers to slow down? What argument could be more convincing than, "slow down before you kill a little kid!"?

This is the third pedestrian I have seen injured by a car in six months.

I don't think society "condones" this type of driving. But if you mean by "this kind of driver" the kind that probably never saw a car as large as a Crown Victoria before and is now driving one 12-hours-a-day in Manhattan traffic only two weeks after getting off the plane at JFK, then yes, we do need to stop them. Is there any kind of separate road test to get a hack license? If not, there should be.

Not to worry people- we are guaranteed completely safe streets in the very near future. The mayor’s congestion pricing plan as well as every single other one I've read (in abbreviated form) all agree on "Enforcing existing traffic laws”. You don’t even need to think about the feasibility or logistics of this generalized statement. It just has a nice ring to it. You can be rest assured that no matter in what form a congestion plan arrives, we can count immediately on reckless motoring to be reigned in everywhere in the 5 boros 100% of the time.

I was right there too. I pass that way every morning, so was freaked out for over an hour - it could have BEEN me. I hope!/wonder if she survived....

I rode from Rock Center, to Carroll Gardens to pass out candy, then back to work in Queens. There was very aggressive, angry driving, until I lined up behind a box truck where Kent becomes Franklin. This guy was driving somewhat cautiously, for Kent, (which is a race track at all hours of the day and night) In his slipstream I could smell his fresh exhalations of pot as we rolled along, on Halloween, during prime trick or treating time. And somehow it is wrong to preemptively remove these people from the driving public?

I'm the person with the green bag and I saw the whole thing happen inches in front of me. This guy came out of nowhere -- and if you look at how crumpled the hood of the cab is, it gives you an idea that he must have been going pretty fast.

Crazy.