City Council members on Wednesday considered for the first time a massive package of 22 bills and resolutions that seek to prevent traffic fatalities and bolster Mayor Bill de Blasio's Vision Zero initiative.
But the bills are a bit of hodgepodge, targeting various issues affecting traffic safety, and not all were written in consultation with the administration. Indeed, city officials expressed concerns about a few of the bills. And some of the legislation, particularly measures that target taxi and limousine drivers. will face opposition from unions and industry leaders.
Council members and others who filled the chambers for the hearing applauded when Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg announced the Senate vote. But she and council members disagreed about some of the particulars in the Council bills.
A bill that would require side guards for trucks has some “implementation and enforcement and legal issues,” Trottenberg said, while saying the department would like to work with council members to improve the legislation.
She was also concerned about a bill that would require the city to repair traffic signals within two hours, noting the city already repairs critical devices within two hours but that an across-the-board requirement “would require a real increase in resources,” doesn't account for extreme weather situations and “could create a difficult legal standard and open the city up to costly litigation.”
Even on the items the council and administration do agree on, there was room for disagreement. Trottenberg raised concerns about legislation seeking to lower the speed limit on one-way city streets to 25 mph. While de Blasio wants to lower the limit on all city streets to that speed, she said doing so on certain streets would present challenges. She also said the city isn't quite ready for reducing the speed limit.
5 comments:
Time is money.... The reason why there are more traffic fatalities is that drivers ANd pedestrians have their heads up their asses........ Distracted by various electronic devices!!
I think they meant to say:
Bill de Blasio's Zero Vision
How about putting cameras on EVERY stop sign in Flooshing. My dog and I were nearly killed by a Golden Dragon cab this morning! He saw us in the intersection and refused to stop - we had to jump back!
I'm constantly told that it's just too difficult to learn English! Does the road test now come in different languages for NYC?
Perhaps it's time to add thumb-prints on driver's licenses?
We need more accountability and stiffer penalties for negligent driving!
'How about putting cameras on EVERY stop sign in Flooshing.'
Can't do that, the state won't let the city put in cameras wherever they want. And the NYPD refuses to enforce traffic regulations citywide.
'We need more accountability and stiffer penalties for negligent driving!'
In much of the country, if you aren't in a car, building, or park you aren't welcome. Suburban legislators want NYC to be like that. Parts of NYC, including much of Staten Island, parts of Eastern Queens and southern Brooklyn count as suburban for this.
Does Polly know how to build a bridge or tunnel and how to maintain them? I doubt it. She is bad news for our city's crumbling infrastructure.
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