City Hall Data Shows NYPD Not Doing Enough About Illegal Driving

On Wednesday, the Bloomberg Administration released the Mayor's Management Report, which is the "report card" for City agencies. The report found that the number of fatal car crashes has increased by nearly a quarter - 23 percent- from 2011. Meanwhile, the New York City Police Department continues to virtually ignore some of the leading causes of traffic deaths.

According to the Mayor's Management Report, 176 bicyclists and pedestrians have died, while 115 driver and passengers have been killed in the 12 month period preceding July 1, 2012. In the 12 month period before that, only 158 pedestrians and bicyclists and 78 drivers and passengers were killed. Since January 1, 2012, the NYPD wrote 28 percent fewer tickets for speeding, the number one killer in traffic, as tinted windows. During that same period the NYPD wrote 50 percent fewer violations for failure to yield as defective headlights.

"These numbers are a stark reminder of what happens when the NYPD's priorities are misguided," said Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. "While the number of New Yorkers killed by drivers who speed and violate the pedestrians' right of way has increased, the police continue to focus their attention on things like tinted windows and defective headlights. Dangerous drivers who violate the law are a public safety threat and the NYPD must address this issue with the gravity it warrants."

# # #