http://gothamist.com/2012/02/15/heres_why_drivers_get_away_with_mur.php

 

This morning the City Council grilled representatives from the NYPD on why so few drivers face criminal charges after killing or maiming pedestrians and cyclists. The hearing room was so packed that it overflowed into a second room, which also swelled over capacity—the heavy turnout on a weekday morning suggests the NYPD's handling of crash investigations is an increasingly hot topic. The department has been widely criticized for failing to issue criminal charges to drivers after serious accidents, as well as withholding the most basic details about their investigations. Today Councilmembers tried to understand why so many drivers get away with murder.

 

More New Yorkers are killed every year by motor vehicles than guns, said Councilmember James Vacca, who kicked off the hearing by declaring, "We don't accept gun violence as a way to die, and we shouldn't accept traffic deaths either." Vacca's first question to Deputy Chief John Cassidy, the NYPD Chief of Transportation, was about speeding, and how often drivers caught speeding are charged with reckless endangerment. The answer came not from Cassidy, but from Susan Petito, an NYPD attorney, who politely explained that they simply don't know, because reckless endangerment charges "are not segregated in the database" and can't be easily found. ...

I worked in midtown Manhattan for over a decade, and I'm pretty sure I've heard/seen someone hit by a car/truck/bicycle for each of those years. Here's a map that only covers a three-year period, and it's an eye-opener:

 

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=202587965129817768706.0004997f9f8ba75d1d167&ll=40.7899,-73.966141&spn=0.268251,0.617294&z=11

Its not always the drivers fault, at least once a month I have a jerk try and cross against the light and sneak between cars on me in NYC while I am going 25mph. You cant let the peds have an inch or they abuse it.

Its not always the drivers fault, at least once a month I have a jerk try and cross against the light and sneak between cars on me in NYC while I am going 25mph. You cant let the peds have an inch or they abuse it.

+1, the traffic flows both ways... u want to complain about NYPD being lax towards drivers, then u need to hit the issue about how lax they are with bicyclists and pedestrians.

 

I noticed a huge increase in bicycling activity in my area, and they ride around like they own the streets, peddling side by side, running red lights, failing to signal turns. My town has a yearly triathlon and we get swarms of people all year long practicing. They drive here so they can ride our streets... I once encountered a group of 10+ bikers and they felt the need to take up the entire car lane, when i gave a curtsy honk, one of them flipped me off, that didn't sit to well with me.

I worked in midtown Manhattan for over a decade, and I'm pretty sure I've heard/seen someone hit by a car/truck/bicycle for each of those years. Here's a map that only covers a three-year period, and it's an eye-opener:

 

http://maps.google.c...1,0.617294&z=11

notice how most of these accidents took place at intersections, so someone was running a red light.

notice how most of these accidents took place at intersections, so someone was running a red light.

 

Or pedestrians were jaywalking.

 

I work in Midtown. Guys on bikes are morons. One ran into me because he was going opposite traffic.

 

Jaywalkers can be bad too. I do it, but I do it smart. You can tell who the tourists are - they don't jaywalk, even when it's perfectly clear.

Jaywalkers and bicyclists were a stressful issue for me when I used to be a valet in Philly. They're really arrogant bastards and retards sometimes. Walking in the middle of the road, riding their bike right in front of my as I'm driving down the street, crazy crap.

 

One bicyclist was tailgating a coworker of mine, and ran right into the side of his car and took out a door mirror when my coworker braked to a stop. That guy got an assbeating.