Brad Aaron
Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York's dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.
Recent Posts
Eyes on the Street: Bigger Sidewalk, Shorter Crossing at Riverside and 116th
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A tipster sent this photo of the sidewalk expansion underway at the corner of Riverside Drive and W. 116th Street in Manhattan. (It’s one of the elements in a DOT safety plan for Riverside that survived after the agency watered down the project at the behest of Community Board 9.) Once the concrete is poured, the distance to walk […]
Drivers Are Killing People, and the 19th Precinct Is Sending Cyclists to Court
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Police activity on 79th & 1st–a blitz of enforcement on cyclists https://t.co/KSOdmtUHvp pic.twitter.com/1HO3zaGUwm — Our Town (@OurTownNYC) June 1, 2016 The 19th Precinct likes to boast about local officers aggressively ticketing people for riding bikes on sidewalks. A data analysis by Transportation Alternatives shows the precinct also issues far more criminal court summonses for sidewalk riding than […]
Eyes on the Street: Cops With Placards Turn Ninth Avenue Into Parking Lot
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Illegally converting left-turn lane for placard parking creates a dangerous hooking situation for cyclists @NYC_DOT pic.twitter.com/7PnlbsbrPw — placard corruption (@placardabuse) June 14, 2016 Well, this is a pretty brazen display of entitlement from the placarded class. Parking watchdog @placardabuse tweeted these photos of private vehicles parked in a turn lane on Ninth Avenue at 34th […]
NYC Motorists Killed Four People Walking and Biking This Weekend
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New York City motorists killed four people walking and biking this weekend. One of the victims was struck in a Midtown crosswalk while crossing with the right of way, but NYPD and Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance haven’t filed charges against the driver. Po Chu Ng was crossing Sixth Avenue at W. 30th Street at […]
Driver Who Killed Man While Fleeing NYPD Pleads to Manslaughter
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A driver who killed a man on a Brooklyn sidewalk while attempting to evade police pled guilty to manslaughter. Police pulled Raymond Ramos over at Sterling Place and Schenectady Avenue in Crown Heights shortly after midnight on March 9, 2015. As officers approached his car, Ramos, then 18, drove off. The Post and DNAinfo reported that […]
DA Ken Thompson Still Hasn’t Charged Driver for December Sidewalk Killing
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Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson charged the driver who killed Victoria Nicodemus on a Fort Greene sidewalk with unlicensed driving, but did not file charges for taking the victim’s life. Six months after the crash, Nicodemus’s family says the DA is dragging his feet on the case. Marlon Sewell hit Nicodemus, her boyfriend, and another person with a Chevrolet SUV […]
Get Ready for Next Week’s Speed Cam Rally With This Streetfilms Comic
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The campaign to get Albany to allow speed cameras outside every school in NYC is gaining steam. Assembly Member Deborah Glick’s bill now has companion legislation in the Senate, introduced by Jose Peralta. The bill would allow any school to have automated speed enforcement without the current time of day restrictions, and would remove Albany’s 2018 sunset provision, making the city’s […]
Driver Who Injured Woman on Manhattan Sidewalk Pleads to Two Felonies
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Update: Tiffany Murdaugh was sentenced to two to six years in prison. A woman who hit a pedestrian on a Lower Manhattan sidewalk and left the scene pled guilty to two felony charges this week. On April 13, 2015, Tiffany Murdaugh drove her Dodge Challenger over the curb on Beekman Street near William Street, striking Heather Hensl […]
Do the 19th Precinct and Ben Kallos Know Drivers Cause Most Street Carnage?
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Police activity on 79th & 1st–a blitz of enforcement on cyclists https://t.co/KSOdmtUHvp pic.twitter.com/1HO3zaGUwm — Our Town (@OurTownNYC) June 1, 2016 Per square mile, the 19th Precinct on the Upper East Side has one of the higher traffic injury rates in the city. Though motorists cause the vast majority of traffic injuries and deaths, the 19th Precinct continues […]
City Hall Has Allowed a Blackout on Vision Zero Crash Data Since February
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Is NYC reducing traffic injuries and deaths as called for by Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative? The public has no way to know, because the city hasn’t published crash data since the end of February and won’t start again until sometime this summer. City Hall’s Vision Zero View map was a breakthrough when it debuted in 2014, providing frequent […]
Driver Kills Maria Serrano, 50, as Victim Walked Her Dog in SI Crosswalk
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A Staten Island motorist killed a woman who was out walking her dog Saturday. The victim was the sixth person killed by a driver while walking or biking in the 122nd Precinct in the last 13 months. Maria Serrano, 50, was crossing Richmond Road at Amboy Road, in the crosswalk, at around 6:49 a.m. when Luigi […]
Here’s a TV Story With a Two-Wheeled Perspective on Biking in NYC
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This story from the New Jersey-based TV show “Chasing News” is meant to have a light touch, but it does a better job explaining how streets work than most “straight” news reportage. Correspondent Tamara Laine talks with safe streets advocates Ollie Oliver and Janet Liff about the need for protected bikeways on Fifth and Sixth […]