John Petro

Traffic Injustice

Between 2002 and 2006, 1,993 people were killed by automobiles in New York City. During the same time period, there were 1,811 homicides by firearm.

While the number of deaths are similar, the response by law enforcement and prosecutors to these different types of cases is strikingly different.

For example, this Tuesday one man was killed and six others injured—one woman had her lower leg amputated—by a livery cab driver while waiting at a bus stop in the Bronx. The livery cab had collided with a minivan that made an illegal U-turn midblock. The driver of the cab then lost control of his vehicle, which jumped the sidewalk and slammed into a bus shelter, killing and maiming those waiting at the shelter.

Witnesses said the sickening impact in Kingsbridge left sprawled pedestrians screaming in pain, with shattered glass embedded in their faces and limbs, and a maimed woman shouting, "Where's my foot? Where's my foot?"

But, as is common with traffic collisions that result in death and injury, the driver of the minivan was issued a traffic summons and released. The Bronx DA announced that no charges would be filed.

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Posted at 4:35 PM, Aug 12, 2010 in Urban Affairs
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