The six candidates who answered our questions are (clockwise from top left): Brad Lander, Jessica Ramos, Scott Stringer, Whitney Tilson, Zellnor Myrie and Zohran Mamdani. Andrew Cuomo and Adrienne Adams (pictured on the floor) did not answer.
Streetsblog has begun rolling out the top candidates' answers to our eight-question campaign questionnaire. All of the questions and answers will be posted here, and each day's question will feature the full answers in two forms: the text is not only below but plotted on a matrix graded by a panel of livable streets movement experts. Remember, candidates make many promises, so rather than grade the answers on dreams, we also added in a "reality" category so readers can judge if the candidate actually has a plan for achieving his or her promises. Don't worry, there won't be a test later: we'll recap all the answers on an uber-matrix later in the month.
Question 4:
Scott Stringer, former Manhattan Borough President and City Comptroller
The best way to curtail reckless driving is to make less room for reckless drivers on the road. That is why I have pushed so hard for more and better bike lanes, wider sidewalks, and open streets. That is why as mayor, I am committed to expanding open streets to at least 150 miles city-wide, expanding protected bike lanes, cutting fatalities by 45 percent, and creating at least 25 miles of new busways per year. A key aspect of my transit plan includes cracking down on dangerous drivers and bad actors on our streets. In 2018, I released a report outlining the failures of red-light cameras to adequately dissuade dangerous driving or act as proper enforcement by highlighting that 23 percent of all camera-issued speeding violations came from repeat offenders. Moreover, the current technology fails to address the issue of so-called “Ghost Cars” – vehicles with fake, obscured, or illegally covered license plates, many of which also lack valid registrations – leaving the most-dangerous drivers free to continue terrorizing our streets. My quality-of-life plan outlines my approach to cracking down on unsafe driving and protecting pedestrians and cyclists on the roads by Leveraging Advanced Technology. The city must harness cutting-edge technology without sacrificing privacy or public trust. By integrating advanced analytics, expanded monitoring, and transparent oversight, the city can move from reactive over-policing from the NYPD to a proactive, multi-agency approach that can act as both enforcement and help us to develop plans to redesign streets, preventing the opportunity for dangerous driving to begin with. Utilizing advanced technology capable of identifying and combatting “Ghost Cars” is an essential first step to creating a safe environment for everyone to use the streets. At the end of the day, the best way to get reckless drivers off the road and protect New Yorkers is to build a functional city, which means affordable, reliable public transit, creating alternatives to private automobiles that crowd the roadways and make our streets dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists.
Zellnor Myrie, state Senator from Brooklyn
Reckless driving remains a serious threat to public safety in New York City, and addressing it requires both strong enforcement and creating alternatives to car use. As mayor, I will take a comprehensive approach to making our streets safer by reducing car dependency and ensuring that reckless drivers are held accountable. I am committed to making it as easy as possible to take public transportation. To make alternatives to driving more attractive, I will aggressively improve and expand public transit. I will push for physically separated bus lanes on major routes, speed up the implementation of bus rapid transit, and expand automated bus lane enforcement to keep cars out of dedicated transit space. I will work with the MTA to make the subway more reliable, accessible, and affordable by expanding the Fair Fares program and advocating for system-wide upgrades. Additionally, I will invest in safer and more extensive cycling infrastructure, expanding the city’s protected bike lane network and implementing secure bike parking in key areas.
Jessica Ramos, state Senator from Queens
As a mother of two, I think every day about my children’s safety on their way to school. No parent should have to worry whether dangerous intersections or reckless drivers will put their kids at risk. I do not think we can rely on individual drivers to always make the right split-second decisions and DOT should instead focus on structural design solutions that force drivers to share our streets. We need a citywide strategy that prioritizes safety through design, not just enforcement or driver behavior. I will implement universal daylighting at intersections citywide, preventing parked cars from blocking sightlines. I’ll also implement a bill I have been carrying in the Senate to install scramble crosswalks around schools and senior centers, giving pedestrians a head start and dedicated time to cross safely. Just as I have in the Senate, you will hear me using my bully pulpit on Tin Cup Day to advocate for speed limiters, bus cameras, and other smart safety measures that hold dangerous drivers accountable. Vision Zero is wholly possible, and the solutions are not a mystery. We just need a mayor who takes everyone’s safety seriously.
Brad Lander, City Comptroller
I was proud to pass the Reckless Driver Accountability Act in 2020 to utilize speed cameras and red-light cameras to identify the most reckless drivers, require that they change their behavior, or get them off the streets. Unfortunately, the pandemic delayed the program, and then both the de Blasio and Adams administrations utterly failed to implement it effectively. As mayor, I will revive and strengthen it, building on the success of the Driver Accountability Program at the Red Hook Community Justice Center, which has been rigorously studied and proven to reduce recidivist reckless driving and is now being expanded citywide; and working together with state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, who has introduced legislation in the Legislature, that would allow us to install speed delimiters or suspect licenses for the most/repeat reckless drivers. (And to keep our camera enforcement program effective, we must address the issue of ghost plates, as Streetsblog readers know well, and as we audited last year.) Cameras can go a long way to identify the most reckless drivers (since they catch exponentially more traffic infractions than NYPD officers), but the NYPD also needs to be a core partner on our path to Vision Zero. This will require a culture shift, to see street safety as a way of saving lives and protecting New Yorkers. I’ve committed to keeping Jessie Tisch as Commissioner, who issued new guidance to reduce NYPD’s dangerous car chases, and I believe can help lead that change. [My] commissioner will report to me directly about the steps the NYPD is taking to prevent and reduce traffic violence and death. I will reboot the Vision Zero Task Force, to ensure NYPD is coordinating directly with other agencies where traffic enforcement is urgently needed – identifying problem areas where illegal parking, reckless driving, truck traffic, and sidewalk parking is emerging in our neighborhoods to take targeted enforcement action. As I’ve been working on since I was in the Council, when we did several hearings on it, I will also overhaul the Crash Investigation Squad, which fails to adequately investigate hit-and-runs, and make sure they have the resources to fully investigate crashes – and then work with District Attorneys to treat every hit and run with the seriousness it deserves.
Zohran Mamdani, Assembly Member from Queens
I will establish enforcement-based solutions to changing driver behavior, like expanding all of the city’s automated enforcement systems to reduce speeding, keep bike and bus lanes clear and prevent recidivist drivers from getting back behind the wheel. I would remove enforcement of traffic violations from the NYPD and place it under the purview of DOT. Moving this power from the NYPD will allow for true accountability and oversight in enforcement, and automated enforcement will end racially biased traffic stops. To supplement this, penalties for using ghost plates, obscuring plates or using illegal license plates and chronically speeding in school zones or through red lights should be steeper, with recidivist dangerous drivers losing their licenses.
Whitney Tilson
Too many New York City drivers speed or disobey other traffic laws with impunity, endangering bikers, pedestrians and other drivers. To make matters worse, many drivers illegally conceal their license plates to avoid accountability for their actions. A key part of my plan to make our city safer is to hire 5,000 more police officers and focus on quality-of-life issues – including cracking down on reckless drivers and making sure those who repeatedly violate the law face real consequences. I also support more traffic cameras.
“This epidemic is preventable,” a grieving dad said on his first trip to Albany as part of Families for Safe Streets. “It doesn't have to be this way.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation is illegally threatening to withhold billions in transportation funding to states that don't "cooperate" with the administration's immigration crackdown, a new suit argues.
