Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Drivers Keep Killing Pedestrians, So The NYPD Will Crack Down On Jaywalkers
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Nov 11, 2015
Modified Nov 11, 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
Christopher Robbins
Published Nov 11, 2015
Modified Nov 11, 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 dozen pedestrians have been killed by drivers in the past twelve days. At least three of them were killed crossing the street with the right of way, and four of them were killed as they walked on the sidewalk. In response to one of those deaths, in which a hit and run casino bus driver killed a pedestrian in Flushing, the NYPD is going to start handing out more jaywalking tickets.
"If you're crossing in the middle of the street, you're wrong, you're endangering yourself, you're endangering others, you're endangering drivers," Queens Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz said, standing next to NYPD Deputy Inspector Thomas Conforti, the commander of the 109th Precinct, according to DNAinfo.
"Cross at the green, not in-between, and hopefully we will be able to reduce the number of traffic fatalities."
While the 109th Precinct is promising to issue more tickets to pedestrians, they have decreased their enforcement against drivers. In 2015, the 109th has issued 433 speeding tickets, according to the most recent data available from the department; at this time last year, they had issued 599.
The number of citations the precinct has issued to drivers for failing to yield to pedestrians has also decreased from 2014 to 2015, from 665 to 621.
Speeding is the most common cause of fatal collisions, and drivers failing to yield is a top cause of pedestrian injuries.
Data compiled by Streetsblog has shown that around eight percent of all pedestrian injuries and deaths are catalogued as being the fault of the victim.
In early 2014, an 84-year-old man was bloodied during an encounter with police officers who were trying to issue him a jaywalking summonses on the Upper West Side as part of a crackdown there on disorderly pedestrians.
Paul Steely White, the executive director for Transportation Alternatives, said in a statement that this newest attempt at a jaywalking crackdown was evidence of a "strong anti-pedestrian bias" at the precinct level.
"It’s easy to blame victims. It’s harder to track down hit-and-run drivers, curb the culture of reckless driving and fix fatal streets designed decades ago when pedestrians were just an afterthought," White said.
"Given how many turning drivers muscle their way through crowded crosswalks, it should come as no surprise that many pedestrians instead choose to cross mid-block, thinking there is less chance that cars will come out of nowhere."
He added, "Jaywalking crackdowns divert precious resources from the traffic enforcement measures that are proven to work: targeting drivers who speed and fail to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks."
Asked for comment on the new jaywalking measures, a spokesman for the mayor pointed to de Blasio's comments at a press conference last week, at which he said he felt "the car has been a little too sacred."
I think a lot of it is, people who have a license and are not under the influence, but are driving too fast. I still think that's our number one problem, and not being mindful and not respecting pedestrians…Lets be clear: the central problem is vehicles being used wrongly and endangering others.
Yet a central theme of NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton's career has been giving his precinct commanders leeway to tailor Broken Windows policing to their neighborhoods—he even spoke of increased jaywalking enforcement as a way in which Broken Windows policing could be expanded.
At that same press conference on Friday, de Blasio told the press, "I believe in the Broken Windows strategy."
The mayor has said he will attend a memorial walk for those killed in traffic collisions this Sunday at noon.
Tagged
broken windows
jaywalking
pedestrian fatalities
pedestrian safety
vision zero
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 4:22 p.m. ET
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
News
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
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 .