As part of his Vision Zero agenda, Mayor Bill de Blasio wants Albany to elevate careless driving to a criminal offense, increasing penalties while making it easier for police to hold reckless motorists accountable.
Enacted in 2010, Hayley and Diego's Law was intended as a default infraction for crashes that injure pedestrians and cyclists. But under Ray Kelly, NYPD normally applied the law only in cases of very serious injury or death, seemingly in place of criminal charges. Department protocol prohibits precinct cops from issuing careless driving citations unless an officer witnesses a violation or the crash is investigated by the Collision Investigation Squad. As a result, fewer than 1 percent of New York City drivers who injure and kill pedestrians and cyclists are cited for careless driving.
Department brass told the City Council two years ago that the current policy came after summonses were dismissed in court because officers weren’t witnessing violations, though NYPD didn’t say how many cases were thrown out. State lawmakers have so far failed to pass an amendment that would allow beat cops to write careless driving summonses, and de Blasio wants to take a somewhat different approach.
From the Vision Zero blueprint, released Tuesday:
The City supports amendments to the Hayley and Diego law to make this violation a misdemeanor, increasing the penalties associated with carelessly harming a pedestrian or bicyclist. By making this a crime rather than a traffic infraction, the law would explicitly allow a police officer to issue a summons to a person who failed to exercise due care and seriously injured or killed a pedestrian or bicyclist, based on probable cause, even if the officer was not present to witness the crash.
The city also wants to extend vulnerable user status to highway workers.
Right now, drivers summonsed for careless driving are subject to a mandatory drivers’ ed course, fines of up to $750, jail time of up to 15 days, and a license suspension of up to six months. A de Blasio spokesperson told Streetsblog it's not clear yet what class of misdemeanor the city will aim for, but the lowest level, an unclassified misdemeanor, would put careless driving on par with third degree aggravated unlicensed operation and first-offense DWI.
Perhaps more important, classifying careless driving as a crime would theoretically lift the NYPD's self-imposed ban on enforcing the law.
"Whether it's a violation or misdemeanor is secondary as long as it's being applied," says Juan Martinez, general counsel for Transportation Alternatives. "Having the mayor's leadership and having this political moment could make this possible."
Streetsblog has reached out to state Senator Dan Squadron, sponsor of Hayley and Diego's Law, for comment on de Blasio's proposed amendment. We will follow this story as it develops.
Update: Squadron's office sent us the following statement:
"We look forward to working with the Mayor and the NYPD on ensuring that Hayley and Diego's Law is fully enforced and that it achieves its goal: cracking down on dangerous careless driving. Assemblyman [Brian] Kavanagh and I have been working to ensure enforcement since passing the original law and proposing an amendment to encourage NYPD action -- a need that Vision Zero highlights."
