Shortly after Bill de Blasio was sworn in as New York’s new mayor, he unveiled an ambitious new plan to reduce traffic fatalities in New York City to zero within the next 10 years. The plan focuses in particular on preventing pedestrian deaths.
According to the NYC Department of Transportation, there were 274 traffic deaths in the city in 2012. The new plan envisions a city with zero fatalities or serious injuries caused by car crashes, with De Blasio calling on everyone in New York City to agree that “even one death on our streets is unacceptable.”
The plan takes a comprehensive approach to traffic safety reform, with several different components that would work in tandem to create a safe space for New York drivers:
- Smart street design: Improve of at least 50 unsafe roadways, corridors, and intersections throughout the city each year, focusing in particular on streets that have been identified as the most dangerous
- Expansion of 20-mph “slow zones:” Quadruple the current number of NYC Department of Transportation “slow zones” within four years, providing an alternative to the 30-mph zones everywhere else in the city
- Add dedicated bicycle lanes: Reduce bicycle accidents by making bicycle lanes safer for bicyclists
- Strict enforcement: Increase the focus on NYPD enforcement of existing traffic safety laws like reckless driving, speeding, failure to signal, and failure to yield to pedestrians
- Thorough investigation: Encourage the NYPD to carefully investigate crashes that injure pedestrians
- Increased use of traffic cameras: Increase the use red light cameras and speed enforcement cameras as deterrents to dangerous behavior on NYC roads
- Implement “home rule” on traffic laws: Avoid city-state clashes by wresting NYC control of traffic laws from the state legislature in Albany
If you have received a traffic ticket in New York or are worried about losing your driver’s license, contact the experienced traffic defense lawyers at the Law Office of James E. Tyner, PLLC. Call 866-642-3807 for a free consultation about your case.
