The teen driver of this Saturn rear-ended another car, which lurched into 17-year-old Janine Brawer of Staten Island, pinning her beneath. She died from her injuries. Brawer was one of seven city pedestrians killed in the past week. Of the 10 motorists involved, four fled. No charges were reported against those who remained at the scene, while one of the hit-and-run drivers escaped criminal charges for killing an as-yet unidentified pedestrian in Brooklyn. Photo: Daily News

Fatal Crashes (13 Killed This Week, 268 This Year*, 25 Drivers Charged**)

• SI: Teen's Crash Pushes Car Into Fellow Student; No Charges (Advance, News, Post, WINS)  
  
• Bronx: Hit-and-Run Driver Mows Down 28-Year-Old Woman; CT Man Killed in Separate Crash (News)
  
• Brooklyn: 78-Year-Old Grandmother Killed by Driver on Her Birthday (Post)
• Brooklyn: Hit-and-Run Driver Strikes Ped, Bus; Charged Only With Leaving Scene (Post)
  
• Queens: Pedestrian Hit by Three Drivers; One Flees Scene (NY1)
  
• Queens: Unidentified Ped Death Brings No Charges, Scant Media Coverage (Streetsblog)
  
• Queens: Two-Car Collision Leaves 67-Year-Old Passenger Dead (Qns Courier)
  
• Farmingdale, LI: 14-Year-Old Cyclist Killed; No Charges Filed (Newsday 1, 2, AP)
• Continental Village, LI: Trucker Killed After Oncoming Driver Crosses Center Line (LoHud)
• Stratford, CT: Driver Exits Car After Crash, Killed When Another Driver Plows Into It (AP)
• Sayreville, NJ: Pedestrian, 28, Dies of Injuries From Early Morning Crash; No Charges (S-L)
  
• Montville, NJ: Tractor Trailer-Car Collision Kills 1 (S-L)

Injuries, Arrests and Property Damage

• Gothamist Newsmap: 4 Unidentified Pedestrians Hit in Last Seven Days (1, 2, 3, 4)
  
• Manhattan: Joe Biden's NYPD Escort Rammed by Livery Cab Driver (HuffPo, NYT)
• Related: Biden Security in Two Other Recent Crashes; 1 Leaves DC Pedestrian Dead (UPI, WaPo)
  
• Manhattan: West Side Crash Backs Traffic Into Jersey, Westchester (Streetsblog, City Room)
• Brooklyn: 9 Hospitalized After Crash Involving 4 Cars, School Bus (AP)
• Brooklyn: Wrong-Way Hit-and-Run Driver Injures 1 in Pulaski Bridge Collision (Post)
• SI: Teen Rams Police Car After Reckless Driving Stop (Advance)
• Larchmont, NY: Pedestrian Hit, Hospitalized With Head Injuries; No Charges (LoHud)
• White Plains: Road Rager Assaults Fellow Motorist After Minor Crash (LoHud)
  
• Brightwaters, LI: 4 Elderly Pedestrians Hit, 2 Seriously Injured; Driver, 73, Didn't See Them (Newsday)
• Bay Shore, LI: Toddler Seriously Injured When Mom Spins Into Another Car (Newsday)
• Wantagh, LI: Crumbling Overpass Drops Debris on Parkway, Causing 10-Car Crash (AP)
• Wyandach, LI: Man With Suspended License Arrested for DWI, Had Kids in Car (AP) 
  
• Bayonne: Driver Critically Injures 77-Year-Old Ped, Ticketed for Failure to Yield (Jersey Jrnl)
• Newtown, CT: 17-Year-Old Driving 4 Other Teens Arrested for DWI After One-Car Crash (CT Post)
  
• Newtown, CT: State Legislator Can't Resist Violating Cell Phone Law (AP) 
  

Following Up

• Manhattan: Truck Driver Auvryn Scarlett Gets 20-to-Life for Killing Tourist Couple (Post, News, TWC)
• Brooklyn: Ped Killer Complains That Vic's Prosecutor Mom Is Taking His Case Too Personally (News)
  
• Bronx: R'dale Press Has Thorough Coverage of Drana Nikac Crash, Profile of Det. Kevin Spellman
• Milford, CT: Police Release Harrowing Video of Cop Crash That Killed 2 Teens (HuffPo/AP)
• Related: Officers Accused of Drag Racing as Department Blames Dead Kids (CT Post 1, 2, 3)
• Suffolk Co.: Driver Ducks Community Service "Sentence" After 2006 Fatal Crash (Newsday)
  
• Carmel, NY: Slap on the Wrist for DWI Mom Who Wrecked Car Full of Terrified Children (LoHud)
  
• Diane Schuler Crash Featured in New York Mag
  
• Roselle Park, NJ: Driver Surrenders in Fatal Hit-and-Run (S-L)

Photo: AP

• Orlando, FL: Noted Boston Cardiologist, Triathlete Killed Taking a Run; No Charges Expected (Globe)
• Medford, NJ: Driver Hits Cyclist While Texting Drug Dealer (AP)
  
• Baker City, OR: Church Van Crash on Icy Road Kills 2, Injures 11 (AP)
• Minneapolis: Tour Bus Driver Suffers Aneurysm; 2 Dead, 21 Injured (AP)
  
• Cleveland, OH: Cellphone-Using Bus Driver Gets Six Months for Fatally Striking Pedestrian (AP)
• Columbus, OH: Driver Fails to Stop for School Buses, Kills Woman on Crutches; No Charges (WCMH)
• Asheville, NC: Death of 4-Year-Old Leads to Call for Pedestrian Improvements (Citizen-Times)
  
• Morganton, NC, Population 17,000, Sees 4 Pedestrians Hit, 1 Fatally, in One Week (News Herald)
• Chattanooga, TN: Man Killed Trying to Aid Injured Pedestrian; No Charges for Either Driver (Times FP)
• McLean, VA: Wife of Sen. Dick Lugar Arrested for DWI, Hit-and-Run After Hitting Parked Car (AP)
  

Trends and Other News

• "Leandra's Law" Clears Albany; City Enforcers Streamline DWI Protocols (Sblog, News, NYT, NY1)
  
• Suburban NY Lawmakers to Introduce 3-Foot Cyclist Buffer Law (LoHud)
• Teen Drivers Killing Themselves, and Others, for the Privilege of TWD (WaPo)
  
• Obama Admin Wants Seatbelts for Long-Distance Buses (AP)
• Tom Vanderbilt Debunks the Myth of the Daredevil "Jaywalker" (Slate)
  
• NHTSA Says Hybrid Drivers Hit More People; Treehugger Has Doubts; Car Blog Finds the Funny
• This Just In: Drivers With Severe Visual Impairment Have Trouble Seeing Pedestrians (PRN, MedPage)
• In Macon, GA, Pedestrians Account for Over Half of 2009 Traffic Deaths (Telegraph) 
  
• Philly Launches Cyclist Crackdown as Drivers Flout the Law With Abandon (Inquirer, I-911)
  
• Letter From Highway Safety Director Makes You Glad You Don't Live in Louisiana (Daily Comet)

* Since the week of June 8
** Drivers charged for deaths since the week of June 8, based on latest available reports

Surprisingly (or not), @FakeMTA isn't the only agency impersonator. For official, oddly engrossing transit Tweets, try @NYCTSubwayScoop.

We know what you're thinking. As of this writing, @FakeNYCDOT is still available.

To mark its 50th anniversary, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently pitted a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air against its contemporary counterpart, a 2009 Malibu, in a 40 mph crash test. As you can see in the video, the Malibu destroys its predecessor.

The results were intended to demonstrate how much safer cars are now than a half-decade ago, but my first thought was that the new vehicle is the same make and model that NYPD Detective Kevin Spellman drove into Drana Nikac at an estimated 30 mph -- a speed that carries a pedestrian fatality rate of up to 45 percent.

So while modern-day engineering may be better at protecting drivers and passengers, the auto industry and the IIHS -- whose "bigger is better" philosophy ignores those outside of vehicles -- have a long, long way to go before they can crow too loudly about overall safety.

According to a spokesperson, the authority plans to have the paths open on an alternating basis. Updates are posted on the PA website, and are also available by signing up for cyclist and pedestrian email and mobile alerts.

The latest beckoning driver distraction, from Roadify.

Horrified by the notion of Roadify members barreling down your block while performing tedious multi-step tasks on their cellphones? Not to worry. Taking a page from the mobile manufacturer playbook, the Roadify website includes not one, but two "don't text and drive" disclaimers. Problem solved.

Or, we could just charge a fair price for scarce curbside parking, so spaces aren't so hard to come by.

Parking Around Me has debuted in Park Slope, with the promise of eventual full city coverage. Roadify says it will expand its "social transportation" offerings to include airline and transit passenger info, but for now, it's all about the ever-suffering city motorist. Coming soon: the "meter maid" stalker!

Nighttime visibility on the Hudson River Greenway north of W. 102nd Street has not improved since Jacob-uptown took this photo a year ago.

Due to the absence of lighting, once clocks are rolled back for daylight-saving time the Greenway between W. 102 and W. 125 Streets is plunged into darkness during the evening rush. Making matters worse is the glare of headlights from the Henry Hudson Parkway. Writes Upper Manhattan commuter Brad Conover:

The combination of no lights on the path and oncoming headlights of southbound traffic makes it impossible to see the bike path. There should be three new lines painted marking north and southbound biking lanes, not just one line separating bikers from pedestrians with no indication as to N/S-bound bikers, and there should be lights on the path and/or hedges to block the lights of oncoming traffic. I am sure someone is going to get seriously hurt on that path through no fault of their own.

Jacob-uptown, who sent in photographs of the area last year, was informed in a January 2009 letter that DOT would be recommending that the Parks Department include Cherry Walk lighting in its next round of capital construction contracts (though Parks previously indicated to Streetsblog that such a project would fall under the purview of DOT). Aside from some new shrubbery that "only helps a bit," Jacob reports that no changes have been made since last fall.

Last week, DOT told Streetsblog that defective highway lights along the Cherry Walk stretch would be replaced, but said there are no plans to install lighting on the Greenway itself.

Leandra Rosado, 11, was killed last month when a car driven by Carmen Huertas crashed on the Henry Hudson Parkway.

Depending on what course those discussions take, such changes could hinge on approval from Albany. As we reported previously, prosecutors are already pushing legislation that would remove the requirement that a doctor be present to supervise blood withdrawals. Inexplicably, state lawmakers -- and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in particular -- have a history of coddling drunk drivers, the latest example being the fight over "Leandra's Law," playing out at the capitol as of this writing.

While a truly comprehensive bill would aim to protect people of all ages whether or not they are in a car, one would think a measure to toughen penalties for DWI with children in the vehicle would fly to the governor's desk. Yet Silver has now attempted to water down two such measures. The original Leandra's Law would make it a felony to get behind the wheel with a BAC of .08 if passengers under the age of 16 are present. Assembly Dems want to raise the felony BAC level to .18, more than twice the legal limit for driving. Carmen Huertas, the driver in the October crash that killed Leandra Rosado, had a BAC of .132.

According to Monique Dixon, in 2005 Silver wavered in his support for a bill to make it a felony in New York State to kill someone while driving drunk. Dixon, whose 11-year-old son Vasean Alleyne was killed by a drunk driver who spent 38 days in jail, eventually won passage of a tougher "Vasean's Law" than Silver wanted.

Even the newly agreed upon protocol for collecting blood evidence leaves New York woefully behind. Prosecutors are working on a bill to remove the up-front warrant requirement in cases of death or serious injury where there is probable cause for DWI. Such procedure is common in other states, notes defense attorney Howard Weiner in the Times. Local laws, Weiner said, are "much more protective of drivers than those in other parts of the country."

Impromptu bike parking on Dyckman Street after the de-installation of a bike shelter, which for a year stood on the fresh patch of concrete in the background. Photo: Brad Aaron

Anecdotal evidence suggests the shelter was popular among local and visiting cyclists -- and we referred before to the symbolic significance of the Dyckman site. But, assuming it will in fact be installed elsewhere in the neighborhood, what locations might be better?

The Weekly Carnage is a Friday round-up of motor vehicle mayhem across the metro region. For more on the origins and purpose of this column, please read About the Weekly Carnage.

Photo: Star-Ledger

• Brooklyn: Memorial Set for Eliseo Martinez, Cyclist Killed in September (Ghost Bikes)
• Greenburgh, NY: Cycling Advocate Killed by Bus; Driver Back on the Job (LoHud 1, 2)
  
• Bohemia, LI: Man Thrown From Back Seat in Crash, Body Not Found for Hours (Newsday)
• Truck Driver in Last Week's LIE Collision Dies From Injuries (Newsday)
  
• Newark: Unidentified Pedestrian Hit, Killed (S-L)
  
• Roselle Park, NJ: Pedestrian Dies in Hit-and-Run; Police Looking for Killer (S-L)
• Old Bridge, NJ: 14-Year-Old Cyclist Killed by 17-Year-Old Driver (S-L)
• East Amwell, NJ: Man Killed Walking Home From Work; No Charges Expected (Hunterdon CD)
• Montvale, NJ: Minivan Driver Strikes 75-Year-Old Pedestrian (S-L)
  
• East Orange, NJ: 2 Men Attending to Stalled Vehicle Hit by Passing Driver; 1 Dead (S-L)
  
• North Brunswick, NJ: SUV Driver Dies After Colliding With School Bus (S-L)
• Hamilton, NJ: Speeding Driver Killed in One-Car Crash (S-L)
• Bethel, CT: 85-Year-Old Dies After Rear-Ending Pickup (CT Post)

A collision with a livery cab sent a pickup truck into a Clinton Hill mosque. Photo: Robin Urban Smith

• Manhattan: Brake Failure Cited as Concrete Truck Hits Cars, Building; 10 Hurt (Streetsblog, Post)
• Manhattan: City Buses Collide in Midtown; 9 Injured (Gothamist)
  
• Brooklyn: Driver Distracted by Cellphone Crashes Into Truck, Injuring 2 (Post)
• Brooklyn: Unidentified Pedestrian Critically Injured in Ditmas Park (Post)
• Staten Island: One-Car Crash Leaves Minivan on Its Roof (Advance)
• White Plains: Pedestrian Paralyzed From Chest Down; No Charges for Driver (LoHud)
  
• Manorville, LI: 81-Year-Old Driver Seriously Hurt in One-Car Crash (Newsday)
• Nassau Co.: Drunk Driver Clocked at 105 MPH on Meadowbrook Pkwy. (Newsday)
• Carle Place, LI: Man Ticketed for Speeding Harasses Trooper's Mom (Newsday)
  
• Newark: Pedestrian Hit by Dump Truck Driver, in Critical Condition (S-L)
• Newark: Van Driver Is Sixth to Hit Same House in Four Years (S-L)
• Milford, CT: Driver Plows Into Nail Salon, Injuring 8 (CT Post)
  
• Kenilworth, NJ: 6-Year-Old Pedestrian Hospitalized After Collision (NJLN)
• Sayreville, NJ: Seton Hall Basketball Player Charged in DWI Crash (S-L)
  

Following Up

• Institutional Dysfunction Linked to Deadly Behavior at MTA and NYPD (Streetsblog) 
• Related: Raging Bus Driver Who Killed Seth Kahn Ticketed for Failure to Yield (News)
• Related: 170 Bus Drivers Caught Texting-While-Driving This Year (News)
• Related: Unions Cites Shift Structure as Cause of Rampant Drunk Driving by NYPD Detectives (News)
• Albany Reluctant to Protect Kids From Drunk Drivers (Observer, Post, News 1, 2)
• Villager: City Needs Safer Bike Lanes; Legislature Should Pass Leandra's Law
• Smithtown, LI: Cops Looking for Driver Who Ran Over Motorcycle Passenger (Newsday)
  
• Taconic Wrong-Way Tragedy Officially Devolves Into Soap Opera Spectacle (Newsday) 
• Suffolk Co.: Kids of Officer Killed by DWI Driver Receive College Grant (Newsday)
• Milford, CT: Cop in Collision That Killed 2 Teens Charged With Manslaughter (CT Post)

Photo: AP

• Rincon, Puerto Rico: Long Islander Charged With DWI in "Car-Surfing" Death (Newsday)
• Ellenville, NY: Medical Examiner Charged With Driving Drunk to Crash Site (AP)
• Oklahoma City: Elephant Escapes Circus, Hit by SUV (AP)
• La Marque, TX: Man Reaching for Phone Drives $1M Bugatti Into Marsh; Blames Pelican (AP)
  
• San Francisco: Trucker Dies in 200-Foot Plummet From Bay Bridge (AP)
• Miami, FL: Lawrence Taylor Arrested After Hit-and-Run Collision (News)
  

Trends and Other News

• Peds Make Up 1 in 3 NYC Traffic Deaths as State Skimps on Safety (Streetsblog, News, Post, NY1)
• NYCDOT Turns Deaf Ear to Pleas for Safety Improvements on Queens Boulevard (News)
• Staten Island DA Joins Call for Quicker DWI Evidence Collection (Post)
• SIers Left Waiting for City to Replace Stolen Stop Sign (Advance)
  
• Jodie Lane Website Maps Con Ed Sidewalk "Stray Voltage" Hot Spots (Villager, Gothamist)
  
• France: New Radar Detector Broadcasts Speed Enforcement Locations (Wheels)
• When Involved in a Traffic Collision, Whatever You Do, Don't Apologize (LoHud)
  
• Where Are the World's Most Dangerous Roads? (How We Drive)

* Since the week of June 8
** Drivers charged for deaths since the week of June 8, based on latest available reports

Photo: Gothamist

"Access-A-Ride drivers are instructed to observe all restrictions on parking and standing. However, due to traffic, drivers are often challenged to find safe locations to either pick up or drop off customers."

How many holes in that statement do you count?

Gothamist is taking submissions for an end-of-year photo gallery of egregious bike lane blockers. Here are a couple of recent candidates that leap to mind.

In late 2007, a bike lane was added to Carmine as part of DOT's Lower Manhattan crosstown bike route. In response to merchant complaints over the loss of delivery access, a community-generated proposal was put forward to convert Carmine to one-way eastbound with parking on both sides and a parking-protected bike lane, a la Grand Street. Though the plan subsequently drawn up by DOT [PDF] has been approved by CB 2 and the Carmine Street Block Association, it remains in limbo due to what has been described as a "one-man crusade" to derail it. For a taste of the histrionics fueling the opposition, click here.

The CB 2 transpo committee has already endorsed the protected lane and tends to embrace street designs that are most beneficial to vulnerable street users. Still, some who have shepherded the plan for two years now fear a "compromise" that could result in the conversion of Carmine to one-way with a conventional Class 2 unprotected lane, rather than the configuration that has brought marked safety benefits (and similar ill-founded controversy) to Grand Street. Needless to say, the more friendly voices heard tonight, the better.

WHAT: Manhattan Community Board 2 Transportation Committee meeting
WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 10, 6:45 p.m.
WHERE: NYU Languages and Literature Building, 19 University Place (at W. 8th St.), Rm. 102

Now you see bike infrastructure, now you don't. Photos: Brad Aaron

According to a blurb in the Manhattan Times, a spokesperson with DOT said the shelter was removed due to lack of use. Though there are three "U" racks on the same block, this doesn't make a lot of sense in light of agency efforts to encourage cycling by making bike parking more accessible -- especially considering the relatively short span of time the shelter had been in place.

One rumor swirling about the neighborhood is that a Dyckman Street restaurateur desirous of sidewalk cafe space had a hand in the shelter's banishment, as it was situated in front of his newest location, now under construction. But even if that were true -- we've seen no evidence to support such a theory -- it's hard to imagine DOT would uninstall a piece of infrastructure at the request of a single business owner.

Community Board 12 wasn't consulted on the change, transportation committee chair Mark Levine told Streetsblog.

Given Inwood's general lack of bike racks, and with livable streets advocates about to embark on the third year of their campaign for safer cycling conditions on Dyckman, we're extremely curious as to why this shelter was taken away. As of this writing, however, two queries to DOT have brought no response.

New York State devotes just 1 percent of its federal transportation funds to pedestrian infrastructure. Photo: Wikipedia

In the last 15 years, more than 76,000 Americans have been killed while crossing or walking along a street in their community. More than 43,000 Americans -- including 3,906 children under 16 -- have been killed this decade alone. This is the equivalent of a jumbo jet going down roughly every month, yet it receives nothing like the kind of attention that would surely follow such a disaster.

Counterintuitive as it may be, "Dangerous by Design" also finds that, when it comes to investing in pedestrian-friendly streets, New York has little room to boast. Here are local stats culled from the report, issued in a joint statement from TSTC, Transportation Alternatives, the Regional Plan Association and TWU Local 100:

• 22.5 percent of total traffic deaths in New York State are pedestrians
  
• 31 percent of total traffic deaths in the NYC metropolitan area are pedestrians
  
• Only 1 percent of New York State federal transportation funds are spent on pedestrian infrastructure, an average of $0.73 per person
  
• New York State ranks 44th in the nation for federal spending on walking and biking
  
• The NYC metropolitan area receives only $0.61 per person in federal funds for pedestrian and bike facilities, well below the meager $1.39 spent per person for metro areas nationwide

Advocates are calling on Governor Paterson and the New York State Legislature to designate 10 percent of federal Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and 10 percent of federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding for pedestrian safety; to enact a statewide complete streets policy; to increase funding for Safe Routes to School and Safe Seniors programs; and to create a statewide Safe Routes to Transit program.

"From 2005 to 2008, New York has received $5.6 billion in federal transportation funds," reads the statement. "In the same amount of time there have been 1,215 preventable pedestrian deaths."

You can download "Dangerous By Design" in its entirety here. Elana Schor has more on the report's national implications at Streetsblog Capitol Hill.

The Weekly Carnage is a Friday round-up of motor vehicle mayhem across the metro region. For more on the origins and purpose of this column, please read About the Weekly Carnage.

Damon Padmore, driving this SUV, hit and killed 38-year-old Dorothea Wallace as she made her way to work in Downtown Brooklyn. Padmore, a corrections officer at Sing Sing, was arrested for driving with a suspended license, but was not charged for killing Wallace. Photo: 1010 WINS

• Bronx: NYPD Detective Hits, Kills 67-Year-Old; Charged With DWI, Homicide (News 1, 2, Post 1, 2)
• Related: Commissioner Kelly Forms Panel to Speed DWI Evidence Collection (Streetsblog)
• Brooklyn: Unlicensed Prison Guard Strikes Woman, Not Charged for Death (News, Post, NY1)
• Manhattan: 22-Year-Old Student Run Over By MTA Bus in Hell's Kitchen; No Charges (Streetsblog)
  
• Bronx: Halloween Vandalism "Prank" Ends With Man Fatally Struck by City Bus (AMNY, News)
• Staten Island: Woman Killed in SIE Crash; Boyfriend Charged With DWI, Homicide (News, Advance)
• Harrison, NY: Livery Driver Killed, Passerby Injured Changing Tire on I-95 (LoHud)
  
• Seaford, LI: Man Killed Crossing Road After Crash (Newsday)
• Nutley, NJ: Driver Speeds Through Popular Trick-or-Treat Zone, Kills Kid; No Charges (S-L 1, 2, 3)
• South Brunswick, NJ: Elderly Florida Couple Killed in Wrong-Way Jersey Tpk. Collision (S-L)
  

No charges were filed against the Parks Dept. employee who seriously injured former Off-Broadway actress Shami Chaikin as she rode her motorized wheelchair in the Eighth Avenue bike lane. Photo: New York Post

• Gothamist Newsmap: 3 Unidentified Pedestrians Struck Since Saturday (Gothamist 1, 2)
  
• Manhattan: Woman in Wheelchair Hit by Parks Employee in 8th Ave. Bike Lane (Sblog, Post, News)
  
• Manhattan: Cabs Crash Into Scaffolding in East Village; 6 Injured (Gothamist)
  
• Manhattan: Al Sharpton's Daughter, Ex-Wife Charged With Resisting Arrest After Traffic Stop (Post)
• Queens: Driver on PCP Arrested En Route to Pick Up Daughter at School (News)
  
• Post Blotter Notes DWI, Road Rage Crashes on Staten Island
• Staten Island: Suspected Gang Member on PCP Crashes After Police Stop (Advance)
  
• Staten Island: Rider Snaps Photos of Texting Express Bus Driver (Advance)
• Staten Island: SUV Driver Mounts Car in Parking Lot; No Injuries Reported (Advance)
  
• Eastchester, NY: Driving Home From Game 6, Joe Girardi Renders Aid at Crash Site (LoHud)
  
• Smithtown, LI: Motorcyclist Charged With DWI After Passenger Falls Off, Hit by Driver (AP)
• Tractor-Trailer Collides With SUV, Closes LIE for 12 Hours; 1 Injured (Newsday)
• Stamford, CT: 12-Year-Old Struck, Critical; No Charges Expected (CT Post)
  
• Jersey City: 6 Passengers Injured in NJ Transit Bus Crash (Jersey Jrnl)
  
• Jersey City: Man Arrested for DWI After Halloween Crash Into Cemetery (Jersey Jrnl)
• Branchburg, NJ: Woman Hit, Seriously Hurt Trying to Help Injured Deer (Reporter)
  
• Clifton, NJ: Driver Misses Curve, Sails Into House (Record); Witty S-L Reader Commentary Ensues
• Linden, NJ: 69-Year-Old Gas Station Attendant Attacked by Deadbeat Motorist (NJLN)
  
• Edison, NJ: Road Worker's Leg Crushed by Steamroller (S-L)

Following Up

• Brooklyn: Officer Andrew Kelly Pleads Not Guilty for Vionique Valnord Death (News, Post, City Room)
• Queens: Man Gets 34-to-Life for Trying to Run Down Cops With Stolen MTA SUV (Qns Trib, YourNabe)
• Staten Island: Thousands Pay Tribute to 16-Year-Old Killed in One-Car Wreck (Post)
• Nassau Co.: Man Gets 5-10 Years for DWI Crash That Maimed Queens Cop (News)
  
• White Plains: Woman Sentenced to 1-3 Years for Killing Friend in DWI Crash (AP)
  

Photo: Nevada Appeal

• Los Angeles: Road Rage Doc Thompson Convicted for 2008 Assault on 2 Cyclists (Streetsblog)
• Related: Civil Suit Filed by Victim Ron Peterson (AP)
  
• Herkimer, NY: Man Struck, Killed While Trick-or-Treating With 8-Year-Old Son (AP)
• Forestport, NY: Road Worker Holding Stop Sign Killed; No Immediate Charges (AP)
  
• Galen, NY: Man Tries to Torch Car With Wife Inside (AP)
• Carson City, NV: 3-Year-Old in Stroller Hit During Family Halloween Outing (Appeal)
  
• Portland, OR: Man Guilty in Hit-and-Run of Pedicab Driven by Large Orange Rabbit (AP)
• Dickinson, ND: 3 Missing College Softball Players Found in Submerged SUV (AP)
  
• Berlin: Soldier Drives Car Into Fellow Troops, Injuring 13 (AP)
• Sacramento Kings' Andres Nocioni Arrested on Suspicion of DUI (NBA.com)
  
• Tokyo: Brad Pitt Shops for New Motorcycle After LA Crash (AP)
  
• Morgan Freeman Settles Civil Suit Stemming From 2008 Rollover (BBC)
  

Trends and Other News

• Brooklyn: Student Speeders Terrorize Manhattan Beach (Post)
• Staten Island: Following Death, Great Kills Residents Want Relief From Cut-Through Drivers (Advance)
  
• NY State's Watered-Down Texting Ban Now in Effect (NY1)
• Cellphone Maker Garmin Pushes DWD as Product Selling Point (Streetsblog)
• Text-Crash Teen: Every Kid I Know Texts While Driving (News)
  
• Britain Gets Tougher on DWD, But Even Victims Still Sympathize With Killer Drivers (NYT)
  
• Deadly Toyota Acceleration Defect "Goes Beyond Floor Mats" (Consumerist, Wheels)
• Consumer Group Says Power Windows Dangerous to Kids; NHTSA: Meh (Wheels)
• Many Drivers Apparently Don't Expect Pedestrians in Parking Lots, Either (WaPo)
  

* Since the week of June 8
** Drivers charged for deaths since the week of June 8, based on latest available reports

The first time I saw this ad I thought my eyes and ears were deceiving me. But no, there it is: a young woman holding a cellphone toward the camera as "nüvifone" maker Garmin beckons viewers to "communicate while navigating."

"With my nüvifone, I can take calls from my friends while I'm driving to them," she says as she's shown piloting an SUV with two passengers, one of whom accepts an incoming call on a phone mounted to the windshield. (Note to Garmin: Hands-free is not brain-free.)

Maybe the most egregious aspect is the "Do not drive while distracted" disclaimer -- which pops up as the young woman is depicted driving while distracted.

What sticks out to us is not so much that 3 percent of voters rated transportation as the "one issue" that mattered most to them, since many who participated could care a great deal about transportation and you wouldn't know it. Notice instead how Bloomberg dominated the issue of economy and jobs, even in this terrible downturn, despite Thompson's attempts to portray livable streets improvements as assaults on small businesses.

Obviously, despite the low level of interest indicated here, transportation matters. Otherwise pols wouldn't drone on about the MTA ad nauseam. But what do these numbers tell you?

Seth Kahn, pictured here with late TV pitchman Billy Mays. Photo via Facebook

Inevitably, some media reports portray Kahn, who was in the crosswalk, as trying to beat the light, while making less of the fact that the bus driver, turning left from 53rd, must have also rushed into the intersection. The driver was not charged.

Despite the constant presence of pedestrians, Ninth Avenue is a notoriously dangerous place for people to walk. The quotes have been removed from the story now, but a local resident told NY1 (via Gothamist): "That particular corner always has some accidents. All the cars travel very fast and there's too many buses using 53rd Street and they don't even look for pedestrians."

Kahn was the fourth known pedestrian to die in the city in less than a week. On Tuesday a corrections officer with a suspended license hit Dorothea Wallace of Prospect Heights as she walked to work. Luis Rivera of the Bronx was struck and killed by a city bus driver on Halloween after he reportedly threw something at the bus' windshield. And last Friday, off-duty NYPD detective Kevin Spellman ran down 67-year-old Drana Nikac as she crossed a street in Kingsbridge.

The deaths of Vionique Valnord and Drana Nivac may spur movement to reevaluate procedures employed to gather DWI blood evidence. What took so long? Photos via New York Times

It took five hours to get a blood sample from Kevin Spellman, the NYPD detective who reportedly stumbled out of his government-leased Chevy Malibu after hitting 67-year-old Bronx grandmother Drana Nikac last week. Even so, officials said Spellman was found to have a blood alcohol level of .21. As with the Andrew Kelly case, the lag time between the arrest and obtaining blood evidence was heavily scrutinized by the media, perhaps putting pressure on Commissioner Kelly to act.

"I feel it is extremely possible to speed up the process and can say the DA offices are very interested in working with the Police Department to do so," says Joseph McCormack, chief of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau of Bronx DA Robert Johnson's office. "There are also some legal changes that would help."

One proposed measure supported by McCormack would remove the state requirement that a doctor be present to supervise blood withdrawals. In 2002, 91-year-old former Olympian Jack Shea was killed in Saranac Lake by a driver who was indicted for vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and DWI. Charges were ultimately dropped after courts ruled blood evidence inadmissible based on the fact that, since there was no doctor on duty at the small clinic where Shea and the driver were taken after the crash, the sample was drawn by an EMT. Appellate judges in the Shea case, according to the bill, "called on the legislature to amend the statute to remedy what they saw as an unnecessary restriction in the law."

McCormack and Nassau prosecutor Maureen McCormick are also working on a proposal to remove the up-front warrant requirement in cases of death or serious injury where there is probable cause for DWI. Such procedure is common in other states, says McCormick: "There is no constitutional issue of self-incrimination, which applies only to statements. Blood is physical evidence and subject to a different analysis. The trial judge would review the arresting officer's assertion of probable cause during pre-trial hearings and if there was not sufficient probable cause to take the evidence it would be suppressed."

Both stress that altering current warrant protocol would enhance the ability of police and prosecutors to gather crucial evidence, but would not change evidentiary requirements.

"These are the exact same circumstances under which blood can be drawn now," McCormick says. "The only change is that instead of precious time being taken up front for a judge to review the probable cause -- while the BAC evidence is literally disappearing -- the judicial review would take place pre-trial, when time is no longer such a critical issue."

On the subject of time, one can't help but wonder of Commissioner Kelly's new committee: What took so long? It's common knowledge among police, for example, that it is to their advantage to refuse breath tests if suspected of DWI. Did two more innocent people have to die -- and at the hands of NYPD officers -- for officials to address such a blatant systemic shortcoming?

Who will rule NYC streets come 2010? Photo: City Room

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