Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Traffic Justice

NYPD Kisses the Blarney Stone After Ray Kelly Saves the Day

By Brad Aaron | Mar 19, 2010 | 14 Comments

Photo: Daily News We couldn’t help notice that, while police information czar Paul Browne was seemingly chatting up every media outlet in town about his boss coming to the aid of a fallen pedestrian this week, we were adding two letters to our stack of NYPD freedom of information rejections. As we announced last week, […]

Bill Targeting Drivers With Suspended Licenses Gains Steam

By Noah Kazis | Mar 15, 2010 | 3 Comments

Last January, Alexander Aponte struck and killed nine-year-old Ibrihim Ahmed in Ozone Park while driving with a suspended license. He was charged with a misdemeanor — driving without a license — that carried a maximum penalty of $500 and/or 30 days in prison. The Queens DA’s office said prosecutors couldn’t levy more serious charges unless […]

Months After Traffic Deaths, NYPD Denies Access to Crash Information

By Brad Aaron | Mar 11, 2010 | 10 Comments

At the beginning of the year, Streetsblog embarked on a project we hope will shed light on city pedestrian and cyclist fatalities that appear to have been written off as blameless "accidents." To date, we have filed freedom of information requests with NYPD pertaining to 10 pedestrian deaths, and will be reporting on the progress […]

Albany to Drunk Drivers: We’ll Go Easy on You

By Brad Aaron | Feb 25, 2010 | 11 Comments

While traffic safety proponents and law enforcers are pushing for measures to clamp down on unlicensed driving, some state legislators want to keep accused drunk drivers on the road. As reported by On Transport, Senate Bill 3627 and its companion Assembly bill would change existing law that regulates the period between a DWI charge and […]

Strict Liability: Civil Law for Civil Streets

By Brad Aaron | Feb 9, 2010 | 9 Comments

Yesterday we highlighted a Bob Mionske column that eloquently lays out inherent biases common in U.S. traffic codes and proposes measures we can take to start correcting them. One of them is strict liability, which generally assigns responsibility for a collision to the operator of the vehicle likely to do the most damage (just as […]

Mionske: Vulnerable User Laws a First Step Toward True Traffic Justice

By Brad Aaron | Feb 8, 2010 | 6 Comments

In the second installment of his two-part "traffic injustice" series (here’s part one), cycling attorney Bob Mionske covers a lot of ground. While much of it will lead Streetsblog readers to nod in knowing agreement, what struck us is the way Mionske exposes how a transportation system so dominated by multi-ton vehicles has basically absolved […]

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