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
Here’s How You Can Help Bring Speed Enforcement to #EverySchool in NYC
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Transportation Alternatives is ramping up its #EverySchool campaign to loosen Albany restrictions on New York City speed cameras. Earlier this month, TA and Families for Safe Streets launched an effort to get state lawmakers to allow NYC to site speed cameras outside every school in the city. As of now, arbitrary state rules limit NYC to […]
Streetsblog FOILs NYPD for Data on Crashes Involving Police
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Streetsblog has filed a freedom of information request for NYPD data on traffic crashes involving NYPD personnel. NYPD doesn’t tell the public — or other city agencies — how many crashes police officers and other department staff get into, or what the costs are in terms of injuries, deaths, and property damage. When the Department of […]
NYPD Clears Hit-and-Run Driver and Blames Deceased Victim in the Press
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NYPD says a man struck by a hit-and-run driver in East Harlem killed himself by lying in the street. While psychologizing the deceased victim to the press, police defended the driver, and filed no charges against him for leaving the scene of a fatal crash. Christopher Costa was hit on Madison Avenue at E. 115th Street between 9:30 and 10 p.m. […]
Driver Who Killed Charity Hicks Pleads to Homicide and Leaving the Scene
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The hit-and-run driver who struck and killed a Detroit woman as she waited for a bus in Hell’s Kitchen pled guilty to homicide and felony leaving the scene. He will serve a minimum of two and a maximum of six years in prison, pursuant to a judge’s plea offer. Thomas Shanley drove a Dodge SUV onto the […]
NYPD: Teacher Killed by Cop in Crosswalk “Assumed Risk” by Crossing Street
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NYPD and the city Law Department are fighting a lawsuit filed by the family of a Brooklyn man who was killed in a crosswalk by an on-duty officer, on the grounds that the victim behaved recklessly by crossing the street. Felix Coss was crossing Broadway at Hooper Street in Williamsburg, in a crosswalk with the signal, on […]
NYS Assembly Wants $20M for Safe Streets — Will Cuomo and Senate Agree?
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In its one-house budget, the State Assembly is proposing to dedicate $20 million to safe streets projects statewide. It would be the first time New York has set aside dedicated funding for the state’s Complete Streets program, but so far neither Governor Cuomo nor the State Senate have included any such funding in their respective budget proposals. The […]
Citing FDNY Concerns, DOT Removes Two-Block Protected Bike Connection
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DOT has erased a short contraflow protected bikeway that linked the Highbridge neighborhood to the car-free High Bridge in response to FDNY concerns about the movement of emergency vehicles. The project was part of a package of biking and walking improvements in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan implemented last year, timed to coincide with the re-opening of the High Bridge to the […]
No ROW Charge for Garbage Hauler Who Killed Woman in UES Crosswalk
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A pedestrian was struck and killed by the driver of a private garbage truck on the Upper East Side yesterday. Police determined the driver failed to yield but did not charge him with violating the Right of Way Law. The crash happened at around 4:30 Tuesday morning. According to reports, Jodi McGrath was crossing First Avenue […]
NYC Drivers Injured 1,191 Pedestrians and Cyclists, and Killed 13, in February
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Eighteen people died in New York City traffic in February, and 3,770 were injured, according to Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero View crash data map. As of the end of February, the city reported 26 pedestrians and cyclists killed by city motorists this year, and 2,277 injured, compared to 21 deaths and 1,896 injuries for the same […]
Driver Backing Up to Park Kills Lin Qinyun, NYPD Blames Victim [Updated]
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Update below A driver backing up to get a parking space killed a woman in Queens and NYPD blamed the deceased victim. Lin Qinyun, 64, was crossing 37th Avenue at 113th Street in Corona at around 8:45 a.m. last Friday when she was struck by a 54-year-old woman driving a Ford SUV. NYPD faulted Qinyun for the […]
The TLC Has Never Used Cooper’s Law to Permanently Revoke a TLC License
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In the 18 months it has been on the books, the Taxi and Limousine Commission has never used Cooper’s Law to permanently revoke the TLC license of a cab driver for hurting or killing someone. Cooper’s Law, which took effect in September 2014, allows the TLC to suspend the TLC licenses of cab drivers involved in […]
Bratton on NYC’s Vision Zero Goal: “It Will Probably Remain Elusive”
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#HappeningNow: @CommissBratton speaks at @transalt's Vision Zero Cities Conference. #VisionZero2016 pic.twitter.com/flf4y3UNFs — NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) March 10, 2016 If New York City hopes to achieve Vision Zero, it probably won’t happen on Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s watch. Bratton kicked off the Vision Zero Cities conference, happening today and tomorrow at NYU, with a big helping […]