Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Families For Safe Streets Demands Accountability From Bus Drivers
By
Emma Whitford
Published May 3, 2015
Modified May 3, 2015
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Emma Whitford
Published May 3, 2015
Modified May 3, 2015
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A new ad campaign from advocacy group Families for Safe Streets passionately defends the city's Right of Way Law, taking issue with city bus drivers who have recently spoken out against it. Taking effect last August as part of Mayor de Blasio's Vision Zero safety plan, the Right of Way Law makes failing to yield to pedestrians and cyclists a misdemeanor offense. Before last summer, failure to yield classified as a traffic violation, and resulted in a summons and a fine.
In one ad, Debbie and Harold Kahn stand in a crosswalk, holding a sign that reads "Our son would still be alive." Reading further, we learn that "An MTA bus driver killed our son Seth in the crosswalk. He had the right of way, but the driver didn't stop." The fatal accident took place in 2009, and the Kahns believe that if a Right of Way law had been in effect back then, the driver might have been more careful. Of the seven ads, buses loom in two of them.
(Families for Safe Streets)
As of mid-March, six of the 22 drivers who have been charged with misdemeanors under the Right of Way law have been MTA bus drivers. The Amalgamated Transit Union has been pushing back, shifting the blame to long shifts and buses with considerable blindspots. At a presentation last week entitled "Hey, You Got The Wrong Guy," Amalgamated Transit Union president Larry Hanley said, "Bus drivers don't design buses, they simply drive them."
Families for Safe Streets member Amy Tam-Liao, whose three-year-old daughter was struck and killed in a Queens crosswalk in 2013, is hardly swayed by Hanley's argument. "The City Council has demonstrated great leadership over the past year with their support of Vision Zero. But now, a special interest group is threatening to erase all the progress the City has made in the effort to end traffic fatalities and serious injuries,” she said in a statement. Tam-Liao's group also points out that eight people were struck and killed by MTA buses in 2014. This year isn't getting off to a great start, either.
Former bus-driver and Councilmember I. Daneek Miller has proposed legislation that would exempt bus drivers from the Right of Way law, and that bill is still in committee.
Tagged
accident
bus
families for safe streets
vision zero
Emma Whitford
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Forest Hills Stadium can keep its concerts under deal with neighbors
Neighbors had complained of traffic and loud concerts for years.
By
Ryan Kost
Published Oct 22, 2026 at 2:49 p.m. ET
NYC Council to grill Mamdani officials on collapsed Hunts Point Produce Market deal
Council Speaker Julie Menin called the $650 million plan "mission critical."
By
Elizabeth Kim
News
NYC Council to grill Mamdani officials on collapsed Hunts Point Produce Market deal
Council Speaker Julie Menin called the $650 million plan "mission critical."
By
Elizabeth Kim
NYPD arrests 17-year-old in fatal Midtown subway platform shooting
By
Charles Lane
Ex-Adams aide accused of pocketing kickbacks from community program funds
By
Samantha Max
MTA to begin 6-year project to upgrade signal tech on A and C lines in Brooklyn and Queens
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .