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: Flex Posts Keep Drivers Out of 158th Street Bike Lane
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Reader Alec Melman sent these before-and-after pics of the bikeway on 158th Street in Manhattan, which is now protected with flex posts. The lane is part of a package of Upper Manhattan bike improvements intended to make biking and walking safer between the Hudson River Greenway and the High Bridge. As you can see in the photo below, […]
Let This RPA Vid Explain Why We Need More Rail Tubes Under the Hudson
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The Regional Plan Association produced a nice explainer video on why the region needs to build more rail capacity under the Hudson River, the risks facing the existing train tubes, and what will happen if one of them has to be taken offline for repairs before another tunnel gets built. The situation with the tunnels has heightened urgency because New […]
Civil Suit Compels Man Who Killed Ally Liao to Stop Driving for 5 Years
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A bereaved family has done what NYPD, city district attorneys, and the New York State DMV usually fail to do: impose meaningful sanctions against a reckless driver, who in this case took the life of 3-year-old Allison Liao. Ahmad Abu-Zayedeh failed to yield the right of way when he struck Allison as she walked hand in […]
Two of These Five DA Candidates Answered TA Questions on Traffic Safety
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New York City district attorneys are integral to street safety. Ideally, in addition to ensuring that victims see justice, district attorneys can deter dangerous driving by holding people accountable for committing acts of traffic violence. But even after the advent of Vision Zero, traffic crime and its victims are not a priority for city DAs. Unless […]
NYPD Isn’t Enforcing Mayor de Blasio’s Key Vision Zero Law
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Within months of taking office, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law several bills intended to add teeth to his Vision Zero street safety initiative. In the year since taking effect, however, the most important of those laws was barely used by NYPD. The Right of Way Law, also known as Section 19-190, made it a […]
Cornell Tech to Study “Bike Helix” for Roosevelt Island Campus Access
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There’s a new proposal for bike access on Roosevelt Island. Over the summer the Roosevelt Island Residents Association called to ban bike riders from the helix ramp that motorists and cyclists use to get to and from the island, after a driver hit a cyclist on the ramp in July. That idea was rejected by the Roosevelt Island […]
23,000 Cars on NYC Streets and No One Is Tracking Uber’s Safety Record
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With more than 23,000 affiliated vehicles, Uber accounts for 66 percent of all “black cars” in NYC. Crain’s recently reported that Uber nearly doubled its NYC fleet in the past year. Even as Uber adds several hundred cars a month, no one seems to be keeping track of how many traffic collisions involve Uber drivers, making it impossible to assess the company’s […]
DOT: 1,336 Pedestrians and Cyclists Injured, 7 Killed in September
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Fifteen people died in New York City traffic in September, and 4,612 were injured, according to DOT’s Vision Zero View crash data map. As of the end of September, DOT reported 95 pedestrians and cyclists killed by city motorists this year, and 10,498 injured, compared to 114 deaths and 10,863 injuries for the same period in 2014. Citywide, at […]
Good News: New York City Cyclists Have All But Achieved Vision Zero
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Yesterday the 104th Precinct, in Queens, tweeted a photo of officers giving a ticket to a cyclist. The precinct deleted the tweet when it triggered blowback from street safety advocates, but you can see it at the end of this post. “Bicyclists are no exception to Vision Zero,” it read. “Ride safe!” If NYPD’s goal is encouraging cyclists […]
DA Robert Johnson: Manslaughter Charges for Cab Driver Who Killed Two
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District Attorney Robert Johnson has filed felony charges against the green cab driver who killed two people on a Bronx sidewalk. Johnson’s office told Gothamist Emilio Garcia was off his epilepsy medication when he hit 5-year-old Tierre Clark and Kadeem Brown, 25, at the Grand Concourse and E. 170th Street on March 20. Reports published after the crash […]
Appeals Court Nixes Murder Conviction of Off-Meds Driver Who Killed Two
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A state appeals court reduced the conviction of a commercial truck driver who killed two Manhattan pedestrians while off his epilepsy medication. According to the New York Law Journal, the ruling cited as precedent a recent decision by the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court, which prosecutors feared would make it more difficult to bring cases against motorists who […]
Eyes on the Street: 33rd Street Plaza Gone… Til Next Year?
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Well, it was fun while it lasted. So long (for now?), #Plaza33. @Tri_State @StreetsblogNYC @Plaza33nyc pic.twitter.com/Fm8KsTYeno — Joseph Cutrufo (@joseapie) October 14, 2015 As planned, the pedestrian spaces installed near Penn Station are being removed this week. A painted sidewalk extension and seating were added to 32nd Street for the summer, while 33rd Street between […]