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Hit & Run: Time for Serious Hearings and LegislationThis is from Sunday's New York Times: "Fatal Hit and Run Is Second in 9-Hour Span in Manhattan." It's time to get serious on hit & run. I say this not just because my wife's uncle was killed last month (still unsolved) and it's made us think seriously about leaving New York. What's to be done? 1. GET SERIOUS ABOUT TRAFFIC. I've said this a million times. Parking tickets and towing are just one part of it. Does the DOT (Mrs. Chuck Schumer) have any traffic plan at all? Does anyone in the DOT care? Why not immediate public hearings? My wife and I fear crossing the street, and we feel sorry for older people and young kids crossing streets. How many people must die before traffic issues are addressed? 2. ADD MORE RED LIGHT CAMERAS. Yes, there are plans for more red light cameras. Maybe the penalties will be a little more serious than the current $50 (about half a parking ticket). Drivers who hit and run may also run red lights. 3. ADD MORE SECURITY CAMERAS. My wife's uncle died on Third Avenue in midtown. There are no security cameras there? Don't terrorists drive cars? Why are our streets not safe? 4. INCREASE THE PENALTIES FOR HIT AND RUN. Just a thought. 5. INCREASE THE REWARDS FOR HIT AND RUN WITNESSES. COP-SHOT has up to $10,000 rewards, I believe. Why not rewards for hit & run also? Why not a phone number like HIT-A-RUN? 6. HAVE A VICTIMS FUND FOR HIT AND RUN. Donald Trump is not always at the wheel. With hit and run, you don't know who to sue. Why not a reasonable victims fund? 7. HAVE PUBLIC SERVICE ADS AND MAKE BELIEVE THIS IS A SERIOUS ISSUE, LIKE SMOKING. Bloomberg has been responsible for many anti-smoking ads. How about ads for traffic issues? Has there been ANY? People are dying. Traffic (and its noise and pollution) is a major quality of life issue. Does the mayor or the city council or our newspapers care? As you may know from my post on "murder statistics" (9/11 deaths were never recorded as murders), I e-mailed the NYPD and asked where hit & run is recorded. I have received no reply. This was a simple question; it's a disgrace not to answer it to a grieving family. I saw the NY1 profile (Budd Mishkin) of Larry Silverstein. Silverstein was hit by a vehicle on 57th Street and Madison, a few blocks from my house. At 57th Street and 1st Avenue a few weeks ago, an elderly woman was killed. (The bus driver didn't run away on that one.) My wife is afraid to cross the street here and we can't raise a family with this traffic, so we'll be selling our home. DOESN"T ANYONE CARE THAT PEDESTRIANS ARE BEING KILLED? Sign on the with the anti-car nuts at Transportation Alternatives. Lately, I've begun to think they aren't so nutty after all. They certainly were early on the potential increase in bicycle commuting, which despite the advantages particularly in Brooklyn & Queens (just one hill -- the terminal morraine) I never thought would be as big as it is getting. And yes, pedestrians and bicyclists killed is a big issue for them. Perhaps the biggest. For them, it's just a matter of the drivers learning their place. And having been to Italy, they have a point. You just walk out in the street there, and the cars all stop. You have pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses all sharing narrow rights of way (12 feet from building to building) with no one killed. Someone dies in a traffic crash in New York City every 29 hours. A not insignificant share of these deaths are caused by hit-and-run drivers. By way of self promotion, every Friday morning, we at Streetsblog bring you news of all the regional deaths caused by motor vehicle: http://www.streetsblog.org/category/special-features/carnage/ Pedestrian safety is not a priority for the DOT, moving as many motorists along as efficiently as possible is. The only time they will move forward on a pedestrian safety initiative is under the condition it does not inconvenience motorists. Just look at Queens Blvd. Pedestrian fatalities were enormous, so they put up barricades to control the flow of walking. Consequently, the street is so absurdly unpleasant to walk, there is seldom a live body in sight.
Mr. Littlefield, Transportation Alternatives is not nuts. I'm new to this blog, so this suspicion may be way off base, but I wonder if you're confusing them with other pro-cycling people/groups. I find T.A.'s rhetoric to be very similar to yours in its rational, intelligent, and realistic style. Their objectives are all about improving public safety, health, and quality of life--what's nuts about that? Sign up for their e-mail newsletters if you don't already get them. I think your impression of them will start to improve. Sure, some of their members you might meet might be nuts, but officially, they're not. So, Larry, why if TransAlt makes so much sense (at least as you describe them in this post) are they "anti-car nuts?" What's "nuts," if you ask me, is the way that we have allowed our city to be completely given over to automobiles. It makes absolutely no sense. Post new comment |
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I always worry that I'll turn a corner and run over a child. Maybe that's why I haven't.
My suggestion is a chip that turns on the radio when you turn on your car, and plays one of a series of 30 second public service announcements. The Saturday night version could warn about driving drunk; the school day version could warn about children and school buses, etc. Kind of like ongoing drivers' ed.
To pass inspection, you'd have to get a new set of announcements downloaded every year or two.