For the first time ever, the New York City Police Department was forced to appear before the New York City Council and answer for their consistent failure to hold dangerous drivers accountable. We thank Jimmy V and Michael V for that victory!
Dear Jimmy V. and Peter V:
Thank you for using your leadership position in the New York City Council to expose the NYPD's consistent failure to hold dangerous drivers accountable and keep New Yorkers safe on our streets. Your probing questions and refusal to accept any excuses made Wednesday's hearing exceptionally productive.
As you know, between 2001 and 2010, 1,745 pedestrians and bicyclists were killed in New York City traffic and 142,485 were injured. There is nothing "accidental" about the majority of these crashes; 60 percent of fatal pedestrian and bicyclist crashes with known causes are caused by drivers' dangerous and illegal behavior. It's up to the police to hold drivers accountable for that behavior and help prevent dangerous and lethal crashes.
A council hearing is a great start, but the City Council must maintain this momentum. Now that you've identified the problems. We ask you create a dedicated Task Force to find the solutions.
The Task Force's mission should be to assess the current state of affairs of the Bloomberg Administration's traffic safety enforcement and crash investigation efforts -- the agencies involved, their budgets, funding sources, mandates, successes and setbacks -- and identify the most effective ways to save lives and drive the number of people killed and seriously injured in traffic down to zero.
This Task Force must cut through the excuses, and figure out how New Yorkers will get the enforcement and investigations to make our roads safe.
Thank you for your continued leadership on this vital issue.
Jimmy V
http://council.nyc.gov/d13/html/members/home.shtml
Michael V
http://council.nyc.gov/d22/html/members/home.shtml
Sincerely,
City Island Images
www.cimages.me