The NYPD nails drivers more frequently for minor violations like tinted windows and broken headlights than they do for more serious offenses such as speeding and failure to yield, transportation advocates said today at a City Council hearing.
Cops are on track to issue nearly 100,000 tickets for window tint this year, while summonses for more dangerous offenses are lagging behind.
“We encourage the Department to make more efficient use of its limited resources by focusing on those traffic violations that are most likely to injure and kill New Yorkers,” said Paul Steely White, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, at a joint City Council hearing held by the transportation and public safety committees.
Last year, more than 85 percent of the city’s precincts failed to issue more than one speeding ticket on an average day — but speeding is the top cause of fatal car crashes in New York City.
The hearing also examined the impact of the NYPD’s overhaul earlier this year of how the department investigates collisions.
Before the changes, which included renaming the Accident Investigation Squad to the Collision Investigation Squad, the NYPD only had a squad of 19 detectives, three sergeants, and one lieutenant to investigate several hundred crashes.
The team previously only focused on fatal accidents or accidents where a victim was critically injured — making it difficult to investigate accidents where a victim died from injuries several days later.
In March, the NYPD started investigating any accidents where patients received CPR, were in respiratory arrest, or needed life-sustaining support — and described the renaming of the squad.
A precinct’s commanding officer or duty captain could also now request investigators if a collision seemed unusual– even if there was no serious or critical injury.
Since the overhaul, the squad has been boosted by 40 percent, and has taken on almost 25 percent more cases.
As of September 1, fatal crashes have dropped 2 percent to 189, down from 192 at that same time in 2012. Collisions with injuries have dropped almost 2 percent as well.
Advocates say criminality is not recognized in enough of the crashes — and that drivers should face more charges and summonses, particularly when they mow down pedestrians in crosswalks and on sidewalks.
Of the 189 fatalities, investigators did not find criminality in 102 of the cases.
“We are concerned to see that so few investigations result in serious penalties,” said advocate Christine Berthet, of an organization called Chekpeds. “Even when the pedestrian has the right of way. Even when they are on the pedestrian crossing, and they have the traffic light.”
Councilman Peter Vallone, who is chair of the public safety committee, said that the grisly Midtown crash where a British tourist lost her leg is one example of the change in policy.
“The good [news] is that the collision investigation squad was there. That would not have happened prior to our hearing,” he said. “There was no ‘likely to die,’ and the squad was there. The bad is that there’s been no charges, despite the fact that it was a cabbie with prior violations– and it was an incident that apparently rose out of a road rage situation with a cyclist.”