Hours into Wednesday's City Council hearing on street and vehicle safety, the NYPD's new Transportation Chief, William Morris, divulged that police issued fewer moving violations to truck drivers than cyclists in all of 2019—34,593 to the former, compared to "north" of 35,000 to bicycle riders. It's an astounding statistic, particularly given the city's focus on truck drivers as a disproportionate source of traffic violence.
"It's outrageous," said Transportation Alternatives spokesperson Joe Cutrufo, calling it indicative of the NYPD's "misguided" approach to Vision Zero enforcement. Truck drivers were responsible for 43 road deaths last year, according to Streetsblog; cyclists, who make up barely 1 percent of all traffic, have been involved in five fatal collisions with pedestrians in the past decade.
Most councilmembers, however, weren't around to hear the revelation. Fresh off a year that saw the first uptick in traffic fatalities during the Vision Zero era and the highest number of cyclist deaths in two decades, few members attended the committee's hearing on the subject of street safety.
As Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, the chair of the Transportation Committee, called on the city to respond to the deadly incidents by declaring a state of emergency, he was joined at the table by just one other member of the council's 51-member body, Bronx rep. Ruben Diaz. "This is an emergency and should be treated as such," Rodriguez said, flanked by more than a dozen empty leather chairs.
A total of two councilmembers were in the room at the start of this morning's hearing on traffic deaths in NYC
Concerned New Yorkers and activists outnumbered the elected officials. Several members of the advocacy group Families for Safe Streets delivered gut-wrenching testimony about the pain of losing a loved one to a reckless driver. They wondered why, seven years into Mayor Bill de Blasio's Vision Zero initiative, there was not more being done to protect cyclists and pedestrians on city streets.
"Whoever is responsible for making sure our systems work is failing us," said Liza Martinez, the daughter of Ada Martinez. Her mother was the 27th cyclist fatality of last year, a grandmother of seven from Puerto Rican killed while riding on a notoriously dangerous stretch of the Rockaway Freeway in Queens.
"We feel like she was murdered by a weapon, by a dangerous road, by our public servants who have let my family down," she said, sobbing. "People say the best part of NYC is its people — and my mom was one of the best. Shouldn't the main responsibility of our mayor and our public servants be to keep people alive?"
A few more council members did filter into and out of the meeting, though their obvious inattention was enough to distract some victims. “Am I doing something wrong?” asked Lynda Hansen, as the whispering between some councilmembers began to drown out her testimony. She sustained longterm cognitive damage two years ago, she said, after she was struck by a driver recklessly reversing down an Upper East Side street to find a parking spot.
"What are the action steps that you are asking us to take?" asked Councilmember Francisco Cabrera, after several advocates had already ticked off a spate of improvements that the council could spearhead. Their recommendations include the widespread implementation of pedestrian friendly signals, daylighting, and Barnes Dance intersections; new delivery hubs and better curbside management for trucks; mandating speed limiters on vehicles and side guards on all trucks; and restricting the weight and size of private vehicles that can operate on city streets.
Many noted that truck and SUV drivers played a growing role in the crisis, accounting for 46 percent of fatal crashes in the last two years, up from about 40 percent between 2013 and 2017.
"The future of Vision Zero lies in reducing the number and size of vehicles in New York City, and in interventions that will prevent drivers from speeding or operating those vehicles in dangerous and irresponsible ways," said Eric McClure, executive director of StreetsPAC.
Advocates did praise the council for their passage of the Speaker Corey Johnson's "streets master plan," but questioned why it would not take effect until the end of 2021 — shortly after de Blasio leaves office.
DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, meanwhile, touted the mayor's achievements on Vision Zero, assuring skeptical attendees that the city was taking appropriate action to address recent "challenges." She pointed to the plan unveiled by the mayor on Wednesday to add 10 miles of protected bike lanes in Brooklyn this year — a third of the city's total commitment for 2020.
The blueprint, which includes a mix of new and previously announced bike lanes, has generated mixed reviews from advocacy groups; while Transportation Alternatives praised the plan, many said that the outsize death toll of Brooklyn cyclists—18 of the total 29 fatalities last year—necessitated a bolder response from the city.
"It feels like Vision Zero is on life support," observed Melodie Bryant, a member of Families for Safe Streets. Compared to other leading cities across the world, she added, New York's progress in getting vehicles off the road and implementing significant infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians just isn't cutting it.
"I’m embarrassed for New York," Bryant said. "Our street fatalities are at a 20-year high. The climate crisis is bearing down on our coastal city. Why are we not in panic mode?"
The NYPD did not immediately respond to our request for statistics on truck driver and cyclist violations for 2018.
