We Need 'Broken Windows' for Traffic Crimes

Sarah Goodyear
Feb 17, 2012

These four words: “No criminality was suspected.”

The phrase is a mantra of sorts when it comes to the New York Police Department and traffic fatalities involving pedestrians and bicyclists. Run a red light and kill somebody? Speed and kill somebody? Fail to yield in a crosswalk and kill somebody? You might get a summons for a moving violation. But hey, “no criminality was suspected,” and so you, the driver, don’t have to worry about any further consequences.

The running joke on blogs like Gothamist and Streetsblog is that if you want to kill somebody in New York and get away with it, a car should be your weapon of choice. And for years, it seemed like no one in government was ever going to challenge that status quo.

On February 15, that changed, if only a little. The New York City Council held a hearing on traffic safety and the NYPD’s handling of bicycle and pedestrian fatalities and injuries. And some of what came out was mind-blowing.

Gothamist, which has been all over this story, did a great job of rounding up some of the salient data that came out at the hearing (snark is theirs):

• The NYPD issued more summonses to cyclists than truck drivers last year: truckers got 14,962 moving violation summonses and 10,415 Criminal Court summonses, while cyclists got 13,743 moving violation summonses and a whopping 34,813 Criminal Court summonses. Priorities!
• The NYPD Accident Investigation Squad [AIS] only has 19 detectives, three sergeants, and one lieutenant, but is responsible for investigating fatal accidents for the entire city. But don't worry, there's always at least one detective on duty at all times.
• The AIS will only investigate accidents in which the victim dies or seems likely to die. If you get hit by a driver and end up in a wheelchair for the rest of your life, there's no AIS investigation. The patrol officers will fill out an accident report, and traffic tickets might be issued, but there will never be an in-depth investigation or follow-up.
• 241 pedestrians or cyclists were killed by drivers last year. Only 17 of the drivers responsible faced criminal charges.
• Asked how many criminal charges were filed against drivers in non-fatal accidents, the NYPD reps said they were not aware of any.
• Hayley and Diego's Laws were created to empower the NYPD to issue "careless driving" charges, but the NYPD says judges have repeatedly thrown out these charges on the grounds that an officer has to personally witness the accident in order to file the charge.

At least some of the focus on the NYPD’s inept and even negligent handling of these traffic cases can be traced to the incredible persistence of one family. Last October, artist Mathieu Lefevre was hit and killed by a truck while he was riding his bicycle. The driver didn’t stop; his story later was that he didn’t realize he had hit Lefevre. He parked his truck a few blocks from the scene of the crash and wasn’t tracked down until some time after it happened.

Lefevre’s parents, who are Canadian, expected some answers from the NYPD. What they got was a whole lot of nothing. Only after weeks of requests did the police even release to the family the evidence they had gathered in the case –  evidence which, it turned out, was incomplete, contradicted earlier official accounts of what happened, and exhibited shocking sloppiness (the camera the investigating officer took to the scene didn’t even work). The family is now suing the NYPD for withholding information on the crash.

You can find detailed accounts of the Lefevre case at Streetsblog (full disclosure: I used to work there) and at Gothamist. When you’re reading them, keep in mind that this case is by no means an anomaly. This kind of thing happens all the time.

“We don’t accept gun violence as a way to die. We shouldn’t accept traffic deaths as a way to die either.”

In the last two years, two people I knew well were killed by cars while simply going about their business. No charges were filed in either case, although witnesses in one of the cases said the vehicle that struck my friend, who was riding a Vespa, was speeding and running a red light.

She left behind three children under the age of nine.

I am one degree of separation from at least four other people who were killed by drivers of cars or trucks in New York in the last seven years.

Then there are the injuries: The priest who performed my wedding was struck by a car that came up onto the sidewalk and pinned her against a building. Her recovery took months. The same thing happened to a former coworker. She was never able to walk normally again.

“Broken windows” for traffic crimes

Back in the early 1990s, the NYPD started implementing the policy that’s now widely known as “broken windows.” Faced with a record homicide rate—2,245 people were murder victims in 1990—the department cracked down from the bottom up, targeting petty "quality of life" crimes such as public drinking, turnstile-jumping, and, perhaps most notoriously, squeegeeing.

The policy pissed off a lot of people, including me. Civil rights advocates condemned then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani and then-police commissioner Bill Bratton, pointing out that the new measures disproportionately affected poor people and minorities. In a city where race was a constant source of fear and conflict (Bernie Goetz, Howard Beach, Crown Heights) it seemed like this new approach to policing might blow the house down.

Something else happened. The crime rate started going down. And down. And down. Not just the petty stuff – murders, rapes, violent assaults, all started falling. By 2007, there were just 494 homicides in New York City, the lowest rate since 1963.

A lot of different forces were at play during this period, and there’s no consensus that "broken windows" was the deciding factor. But there’s no question that it radically changed New Yorkers’ attitudes toward the inevitability of street crime.

One kind of offense, however, never really seemed to count in the “broken windows” calculus: traffic violations.

The city has never attacked traffic crimes the way it did the quality of life stuff. Cops don’t systematically ticket cars going through stop signs the way they did homeless guys plying their squeegee trade. There’s the occasional ticket blitz here and there, but on the whole drivers in New York know that you can get away with speeding on any street in town. Stop signs are suggestions. Yielding to a pedestrian in a crosswalk? It’s the driver’s choice.

Why? Maybe it’s because people with cars tend to have money and squeegee guys don’t. Maybe it’s because a lot of cops drive cars (and sometimes kill people with them), and it’s easy to imagine yourself hitting someone in a terrible instant. You tell me, because I don’t get it.

New York has made amazing advances in traffic safety in recent years, mostly by redesigning streets to slow cars down and give more space to pedestrians and bicycles. But it hasn’t been enough. We need the NYPD to get out from behind their windshields and start systematically ticketing people who run red lights and rocket down residential streets and blow off stop signs. Catching the small stuff can change the culture and avoid the worst outcomes for everyone.

Because as New York councilmember James Vacca said at yesterday’s hearing, “We don’t accept gun violence as a way to die. We shouldn’t accept traffic deaths as a way to die either.”

Top image credit: Flickr user Marcin Wichary

Sarah Goodyear has written about cities for a variety of publications, including Grist and Streetsblog. She lives in Brooklyn. All posts »
Link to Original Article 

Smartphones, dumb drivers

With smartphone ownership proliferating, a total ban on cellphone use by drivers is needed, for the safety of everyone on the road.

 

When the state Office of Traffic Safety asked California drivers to name the biggest safety problem on the road, nearly 40% listed drivers who use cellphones. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Can you safely talk on a cellphone — or for that matter, check your email or scroll through Google Maps — while driving? Well, of course you can. But those other folks with their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road are a public menace.

Unfortunately, that sums up the attitude of many American motorists, who widely acknowledge using their phones while behind the wheel but insist they're safe drivers. Meanwhile, the number of people worried about the other guy is soaring. When the state Office of Traffic Safety asked California drivers to name the biggest safety problem on the road, nearly 40% listed drivers who use cellphones. That's a big jump from last year, when the top worry was aggressive drivers and speeders, and only 18.3% were concerned about cellphones.

So what changed? Probably the explosion of smartphones, which aren't so much phones as portable computers — and which, like a computer, require both eyes and often both hands, meaning that, in our view, drivers should never operate them. But they do. More than 1 in 4 Americans who download applications to their smartphones admit to using those apps while driving, according to a survey by Nationwide Mutual Insurance. And the number of people with smartphones is growing fast. U.S. sales of smartphones are expected to hit 95 million in 2011, and 43% of mobile phone owners have smartphones; soon it will be a majority.

Motorists have good reason to worry about this. Studies show that people talking on their cellphones are four times more likely to be in an accident than other drivers, and their level of impairment is comparable to people with a blood alcohol level of 0.08%, the legal limit. And that research was done back when cellphones were used only for making calls. Now that they're used for posting on Facebook or playing Angry Birds, we suspect the dangers are much greater.

Lawmakers haven't caught up. Thirty states ban cellphone use by novice drivers, but none do so for all drivers. California has a law that tries to limit the problem but aims at the wrong target. Here, it's forbidden to text while driving or to hold a cellphone to one's ear, but drivers over 18 can still talk using a hands-free device; moreover, it's still technically legal to use a smartphone app while behind the wheel. This is both outdated and ineffective. There is no evidence that using hands-free devices reduces cellphone-related accidents, which happen because drivers are distracted by their conversations, not because they're using one hand to hold a phone.

A total cellphone ban would avoid the problem of legislating for yesterday's technology, and reduce the number of accidents. Meanwhile, if you value your life and the lives of others, don't dial and drive. 

 

Original Article posted in the L.A. Times on December 8th, 2011

Richmond 2015: City Wins World Cycling Event Bid

Cycling in the Netherlands

Failure was a rarity in life of Henrico cyclist

By: Bill McKelway
Published: September 08, 2011 in the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Credit: Family Photo

More days than not, the first email would come about 4 a.m.

"He would want me to know his resting heart rate," said Susan Hefler, a nationally regarded bicycling coach based in Northern Virginia who describes Michael John Fawell as a man of indomitable will and self-discipline.

Hefler has three years' worth of daily training regimens that Fawell followed and filed to her from the home Fawell shared in western Henrico County with his wife of 10 years, Lara; daughter Cambelle, 14 months; and son Luke, 4.

Today, Hefler, Fawell's family and much of the Richmond area's competitive bicycling community will be at Fawell's funeral, an event marking a tragic end to a life in which failure was a rarity.

During a late-afternoon training ride Aug. 25, Fawell, 38, was wheeling toward Rockville in Hanover County on Pouncey Tract Road when his white Cannondale road bike, traveling 30 mph on fresh blacktop within a marked bike lane, collided with an oncoming pickup truck that had turned left in front of him.

The collision marked a rare instance when Fawell was riding alone, and his family said he remained without medical care with two collapsed lungs for as long as 30 minutes.

"It is one of the tragedies about all this," said Lara Fawell, who sells medical equipment and worked with her husband from the couple's home. "Mike never did anything wrong. He was always the one who made a point of being careful, of thinking of others, of doing the right thing."

"To him, cycling was a passion — it inspired him to succeed and provided him an outlet to feel free," Lara wrote of her husband, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs and graduated from Northwestern University.

The powerfully built racer and nationally ranked time trialist died at VCU Medical Center in Richmond four days after the collision as the result of a massive head injury. He had been wearing a helmet and his distinctive black-and-white patterned training outfit.

Gerald Lee Anderson, 70, of the 600 block of Nelwood Road in Manakin-Sabot is facing an October court date in Hanover County, charged with failure to yield while making a left turn.

Fawell's death has drawn attention, his wife said, to the need for motor vehicles and bicycle riders to recognize one another on area roadways, especially on Pouncey Tract Road, which gets heavy use from both types of vehicles.

The fact that Fawell was injured in a marked bike lane should not offset the need for motor vehicles to recognize that bike riders have the right of way whether they are in marked lanes or not, she said.

"We would talk together about safety all the time," she said. "The tragedy is that we have a little boy now who adored his father and a little baby girl who will never know her father."

Fawell was a multisport athlete, triathlete and bodybuilder who turned to competitive bicycling as he began to age. But Hefler described him as born to ride, a man with powerful legs who seemed to know no competitive boundaries and whose infectious smile belied a rigorous work ethic.

"You have to be disciplined in cycling," she said. "You have to go at it every day, from an hour to three hours."

Shortly after he began training about three years ago, Fawell entered a 40-mile race in Charlottesville and told Hefler he was simply going to outdistance the other 120 riders, not wanting to chance the often-ramshackle sprints to the finish line that typify most races.

"I'm saying to myself, 'Sure. Go right ahead.' But I'm thinking, 'No way.' "

Fawell won against longtime, higher-level racers. "It taught me a lesson that I'll always associate with Mike and I've never forgotten as a coach: 'Never underestimate the power of someone who is committed.' "

"He was a coach's dream," she said.

Link to Original Article

bmckelway@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6601

Bike Lanes in NYC

French Media car hits Flecha, Hoogerland

Apparently motorists don't see cyclists even when the motorist is driving a media car covering the biggest bike race in the world, le Tour de France!

Horner abandons Tour; team defends decision to let him finish stage

By Andrew Hood
Published Jul 9th 2011 6:09 AM UTC

From Velonews.com

SUPER-BESSE, France (VN) – RadioShack officials defended the call to allow Chris Horner to finish Friday’s seventh stage at the Tour de France despite suffering a concussion in a late-race crash.

Horner hit the deck in the high-speed fall with about 40km to go that also took down teammate Levi Leipheimer and sent Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and Remi Pauriol (FDJ) packing with broken clavicles.

The 39-year-old finished the stage more than 12 minutes back, but was immediately transferred to a local hospital for observation. He was diagnosed with a concussion, a broken nose and a hematoma to his calf . The recently crowned Tour of California champion will not start Saturday’s eighth stage to Super-Besse.

RadioShack team spokesman Philippe Maertens told VeloNews on Saturday morning that it was impossible to tell how badly Horner was injured until he crossed the finish line in Chateauroux. It was only then that RadioShack and Tour officials realized that Horner was dazed and not fully aware of what was happening.

“It is hard to immediately make a diagnosis immediately after a crash. Chris fell into the ditch and the first thing he said was, ‘put me back on the bike,’” Maertens told VeloNews. “It was only after he crossed the finish line that we realized the situation. At the finish line, he didn’t know where he was. He didn’t remember anything. It was a miracle that he finished the stage. Luckily, he had three or four other riders and they helped him get to the line.”

In the chaos of Friday’s crash, Horner fell into a ditch on the right side of the road and seemed to be lost in the shuffle as TV cameras focused on GC-contender Wiggins, who was on the other side of the road nursing a broken clavicle.

According to a report in the French daily L’Equipe, Horner briefly lost consciousness but quickly insisted on remounting his bike and continuing the race. Tour doctor Pascal Rivat was quoted in L’Equipe, saying: “I said what I thought (that he should stop). I let him continue, but I never left his side.” Rivat was seen checking on Horner from the doctor’s car during the remainder of the race and stayed close to the Horner group of riders until they crossed the line.

Once Horner crossed the line, officials and doctors quickly realized that Horner was dazed, groggy and not fully aware of what was happening. When VeloNews asked Horner how he was, Maertens interjected: “He cannot speak now! He doesn’t know where he is!” Horner was ushered to the RadioShack team bus, which was at the end of a long line of team buses parked on a straight road continuing past the finish line. Doctors placed Horner onto a stretcher and transported him to a hospital in Chateauroux.

Maertens said RadioShack team doctors stayed with Horner overnight and confirmed there are no life-threatening injuries.

“Scans revealed no life-threatening injuries. He didn’t remember anything, but we went to see him this morning and he’s smiling, he’s already coming back,” Maertens said. “Chris will stay in the hospital over the weekend and travel back to the United States only when it’s safe.”

Maertens posted a photograph of Horner from the hospital bed, quoting Horner as saying, “Next year I will be back in the Tour.”

Horner’s odyssey came on the same day that Tom Boonen (Quick-Step) abandoned the Tour. The classics star crashed hard in Stage 5 and was also feeling the effects of a blow to the head. Boonen said he made the decision to pull himself out of the race because he was a “danger to other riders.”

“I think I have a concussion. I have a terrible headache,” Boonen told Belgian journalists huddled outside the Quick-Step bus Friday at the finish line in Chateauroux. “I was a danger to the other riders in the race. It was better to pull out.”

From Velonews.com, link to original article