Steve Vaccaro’s “Street Justice” column investigates the NYPD’s recent efforts to issue summonses to jaywalking pedestrians.
Although the de Blasio administration’s Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic fatalities does not specifically call for pedestrian traffic enforcement, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton has made clear that individual precinct commanders have the discretion to do so if they determine it to be warranted.
Leaving aside the many good reasons that pedestrian ticketing should be considered NYPD’s lowest traffic enforcement priority, it now appears that many NYPD officers (and some precinct commanders) do not even understand the traffic laws that apply to New York City pedestrians. The NYPD’s jaywalking enforcement boondoggle points to the need for comprehensive in-service training for NYPD officers on pedestrian, cyclist, and motor vehicle traffic laws.
Click here for the full article.