Streetsblog New York City

Initiatives like Vision Zero and Towards Zero Deaths are the answer.

There is no sane responsible excuse for not eliminating the grave dangers caused by cars and trucks. Allowing these dangers to persist is a sure sign of our lack of free will and our disconnect with understanding what is truly important and our ability to solve a relatively simple yet life-threatening problem.

Maybe this will be the one where people pay attention. I know I said that a couple weeks ago when the illegally-driving person mowed down someone else, but I have a feeling this is the one. Yup.

1. There needs to be tougher penalties on fatal auto crashes. We need new legislation that gives driving mistakes at least some jail time if pedestrians are killed.

2. Why can't cars computers detect if there is someone driving before they start moving?

Where should we send letters or make phone calls. I'd like to take this around to other blogs, but we need a better idea of how to target the response.

I suppose writing to District Attorneys' offices would be one place. I mean, I made my snarky piano remark not be cute, but because I angrily believe it to be very analagous to what happened here. If, like I said, someone was hoisting a piano over a sidewalk and because of their negligence the thing fell and killed someone, I'm sure there would be charges filed. Building contractors get charged for things like that. Why on earth shouldn't this guy? The attitude among cops and DAs has to change, as has been said on this blog 10,000 times.

So I'll be writing to either Morgenthau directly or his Community Affairs office, and emailing Commissioner Kelly.

New York County
District Attorney’s Office
Community Affairs Unit
One Hogan Place
Room 824
New York, NY 10013

This is horrible.
Good commentary though, Brad.

In the pictures at NYT page you can clearly see that the driver had double parked in a bike lane. That's also worth mentioning. Like "parking in the bike lane causes danger not only for cyclists but also for peds." Parking like everybody else wouldn't cause such situation, the van would have just bump into a car behind him.

One thing we do now, and should've done years ago if you ask me, is tighten the standards for getting a driver's license. A tighter standard would hopefully lead to a greater sense of the responsibility that should be entailed in driving a large and potentially dangerous vehicle.

The culture of reckless ignorance on the part of NYC drives is half the problem. The culture of laziness and incompetence among the NYPD is the other half.

Whenever I read a story in the New York press about a driver killing a pedestrian due to recklessness - like when they tear around a corner without giving one thought to who might be crossing the intersection on the light - I always know in my heart of hearts that the story is going to end "the driver stayed on the scene and was not charged with a crime," or "no criminality was suspected."

Every time! Every time! It makes my blood boil, because I know damn well that the only reason the cops class these atrocities as "accidents" is because they are too lazy to initiate a criminal investigation and bring the appropriate charges. That would involve filling out paperwork, writing reports, sending a road accident investigation team out, interviewing witnesses, dealing with court cases etc. No, our completely unprofessional donut-dunking NYPD morons know that all they have to do is tick the box which says "accident - whatchagonnado?" and that's that.

It really is about time that the NYPD was shaken from root to branch. They have a culture of incompetence and laziness going back decades and they think they're completely immune from reform in this respect. They're not professional police officers, they're chain-smoking, donut-eating, coffee-drinking layabouts who figure they can draw a city salary by simply putting on a uniform and going through the motions every day. Not once to they stop to consider what their role is and how important they are. Their role is to protect the individual rights of the residents of New York City. That includes protecting the right of the individual to walk around the city without being crushed to death by moronic psychopaths who drive like savages when they're behind the wheel. A huge part of this job is taking these idiot drivers off the road and making them accountable for their stupidity. The NYPD are a failure in this respect.

If Bloomberg REALLY cared about the people of New York he would forget about all of his tedious, attention seeking novelty acts like trying to get New Yorkers to "eat healthily" etc, and focus his efforts where they're really needed - forcing the NYPD to get off their asses and stop being so criminally negligent and lazy and do the jobs they're paid to do.

A major issue here is that the Chinatown van was idling.

NYC has a routinely-ignored, 3-minute idling law already on the books. (Admin Code 24-163) Imagine a cop checking his watch; three minutes is unenforceable.

NYC needs an enforceable (and enforced) one-minute idling law that targets all vehicles--including EMS vehicles not in the active service. The public needs education to know that the law is there and that they have a right to ask drivers to turn off.

Here's how you can help right now:

Speak out for NYC Intro 2007-631, which restricts idling in school zones to one-minute. This is the first step toward citywide restriction.

Jan. 26, 2009, 10 AM (250 Broadway, 16th fl.) is the final committee hearing. Come speak your mind!

Jan. 28, 2009, 9:30 AM (City Hall steps) is the rally before the vote. Come hold a sign, wave a fiery stick, walk on your hands, speak up!

Let our elected officials know that when it comes to the safety of our streets enough is enough. It is time to get smart and get tough. Idling is harmful to health and environment; it's wasteful and against the law. Now, we can add 'dangerous to pedestrians.'

The Chinatown tragedy might never have happened if the driver had simply turned the key.