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
Check Out This Wonderfully Normal CBS 2 Queens Blvd Bike Lane Story
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There’s nothing particularly noteworthy about this CBS 2 feature on the plan to extend the bike lanes on Queens Boulevard. And that’s what makes it noteworthy. With shots of the street where lanes now exist, reporter Sonia Rincon begins the piece like so: “The DOT is reshaping the landscape of one of the most dangerous roads in the […]
Majority of NYC DAs Agree: All City Schools Should Have Speed Cameras
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Three New York City district attorneys have endorsed Albany legislation that would allow New York City to install speed enforcement cameras outside every school. Cy Vance, Ken Thompson, and Richard Brown, the top prosecutors in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, respectively, sent separate letters to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Assembly Transportation Chair David Gantt, and Manhattan […]
NYC Students Tell Albany: Speed Cameras at #EverySchool Will Save Lives
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Students from MS 51 in Brooklyn joined family and friends of people killed by New York City drivers in Albany today to ask state lawmakers to allow the city to install speed cameras outside every school. Organized by Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets, about 140 New Yorkers met with legislators to drum up support […]
Experts Call for Complete Overhaul of NY Region’s Transportation Agencies
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At the Regional Plan Association Assembly today, a panel of experts with background in the U.S. and abroad offered a number of ideas on how the New York metro region could reform its ailing transport system. Most of the recommendations would mean a top-to-bottom overhaul of the way projects are planned, financed, and executed — and a shakeup of […]
Driver Kills 80-Year-Old in Midtown Precinct That Barely Enforces Speeding
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A motorist killed an 80-year-old man walking in a Midtown police precinct that rarely enforces the speed limit. NYPD and District Attorney Cy Vance filed no charges. Richard Headley was crossing W. 57th Street at Seventh Avenue at around 8 p.m. Sunday when a 23-year-old man, driving eastbound on W. 57th, hit him with an Audi sedan, […]
Truck Driver Charged With Reckless Driving for Killing Heather Lough at NYBG
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A truck driver struck and killed a woman outside the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx last week. He has been charged with reckless driving and failure to yield. The victim, 29-year-old Heather Lough, was heading to her job at the botanical garden on the morning of Wednesday, April 27, when Robert Owens, 45, hit her with […]
Driver Pleads to Manslaughter for Killing 12-Year-Old on Brooklyn Sidewalk
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Update: Robert DeCarlo was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison. A man who drove a stolen minivan into a woman and her two children on a Brooklyn sidewalk, killing a 12-year-old girl and leaving the other victims with life-altering injuries, has pled guilty to manslaughter. Robert DeCarlo hit Joie Sellers, her 9-year-old sister Charlie, and their […]
Seaman Ave. Has a Bike Lane and Sharrows, But It’s Still a Speedway
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The thermoplast is down on the new northbound Seaman Avenue bike lane — but it’s really a bike lane and sharrows. Unless DOT makes a bolder move and puts a protected bike lane next to Inwood Hill Park, not much is going to change on this important Upper Manhattan bike route I’ve written about this project, which […]
Will DOT Make Safety Upgrades Over Objections of Sheepshead Bay Cranks?
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Update: DOT confirmed this project is happening. DOT intends to go ahead with a project to straighten out a bus route and add pedestrian space in Sheepshead Bay, reports the Brooklyn Daily. DOT had let the project stall after Council Member Chaim Deutsch and Community Board 15 opposed it, but after a bus driver killed […]
Off-Route Semi Truck Driver Kills Cyclist in Park Slope [Updated]
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Cyclist killed in Park Slope when he “collided into the rear tire” of tractor-trailer on 6th Ave: NYPD. pic.twitter.com/0KjFtYL1nD — Andy Newman (@andylocal) April 20, 2016 Update: Times reporter Andy Newman tweeted a DCPI notice concerning this crash. NYPD identified the victim as 33-year-old James Gregg. Police say the truck driver and Gregg were traveling […]
Adding Curb Space for Cars vs. Space for Bikes — DOT’s Double Standard
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Thanks @NYC_DOT for removing the loading zone on our block to gain two parking spaces. Guess what happens now? pic.twitter.com/BKVeRDKoay — Brooklyn Spoke (@BrooklynSpoke) April 15, 2016 Whenever curb space is reallocated for bike parking in New York City, the process is intensive. Getting NYC DOT to install a bike corral usually involves lots of signature gathering, and […]
Two “New Yorkers” Debated in Brooklyn and Transit Barely Got a Mention
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Remember that time two Democratic presidential candidates had a nationally-televised debate in New York City and barely said anything about transit? This week Bernie Sanders was endorsed by the Transport Workers Union and the Amalgamated Transit Union. Hillary Clinton, speaking in Manhattan, called transportation — referring to transit specifically — a “civil rights issue.” So you’d […]