In light of a legacy enforcement approach that echoes the days of horse-and-buggy, there is a growing demand in New York City to modernize traffic safety measures.
The introduction of automated speed cameras by the Department of Transportation has created a powerful resource: a database cataloging vehicles that consistently exceed speed limits by significant margins. This database indicates which drivers pose the greatest risk on city streets.
However, this resource is not being utilized effectively by the New York Police Department (NYPD). NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch advocates for data-driven approaches to improve roadway safety, yet the department has not harnessed this wealth of information to target the most dangerous drivers.
Statistics reveal that the automated speed enforcement system is successful in deterring reckless driving, with 85 percent of individuals who receive one to three violations refraining from future speeding. This suggests that the NYPD should concentrate its efforts instead on the approximately 45,819 vehicles that received 11 or more violations in the past year.
Such extreme speeding behavior correlates strongly with the likelihood of fatal accidents, making these repeat offenders a critical focus for law enforcement.
Additionally, the NYPD faces challenges with ‘ghost’ vehicles, which are cars that evade detection through defaced, fake, or missing license plates. In 2023 alone, an astounding three million speeding tickets went unissued due to such plate fraud. Despite this challenge, NYPD’s efforts to remove these threats from the streets have been insignificant, with only around 11,000 such vehicles addressed this year.
It is essential that the NYPD makes tackling super speeders and ghost cars a top priority. Creative solutions are needed to prevent these high-risk vehicles from endangering lives on city streets. With current enforcement strategies falling short, it is argued that more innovative approaches must be pursued.
One initial step could involve implementing license plate readers that would enable instant checks against the automated enforcement database to identify extreme speeding recidivists. Random traffic stops currently have a low probability of apprehending these high-risk offenders, given that these extreme speeders represent only a tiny fraction of the vehicles on the road while accounting for a disproportionate amount of violations.
For instance, a tragic case highlighted the flaws in the current system: a driver responsible for a fatal crash in March, which took the lives of a mother and two children, had accumulated 23 speeding violations over less than two years and was driving without a valid license. If the NYPD had utilized a license plate reader, law enforcement could have been alerted to the driver’s extensive history of violations and outstanding fines.
This highlights a systemic failure to leverage data adequately. Furthermore, NYPD needs to enhance its traffic enforcement agents’ capabilities. Just two days before the aforementioned crash, parking violations were issued to the vehicle involved. By cross-referencing this car with outstanding fines within the Department of Finance database, enforcement agents could have flagged the vehicle for actions such as booting or towing.
Such preventive measures draw a parallel to other forms of accountability that exist for repeat offenders in different contexts, raising questions about why the same urgency and diligence is not applied in traffic enforcement.
Among the vehicles with 11 or more speeding violations this year, nearly 13,000 owe fines exceeding $350, rendering them eligible for booting. These represent potential life-threatening drivers who could be taken off the roads immediately.
However, effective change in traffic laws will require more than just NYPD action. Other authorities and lawmakers must also get involved to ensure safer streets. For instance, legislation needs to be introduced to prevent the renewal of licenses for for-hire vehicles—those taxis and ride-shares—among those with multiple speeding violations.
Additionally, more than 140,000 vehicles possess special parking placards, allowing them to park illegally without repercussions. It is proposed that parking placards should be denied to personal vehicles that have repeated recent speeding violations to create a clear incentive for drivers to slow down.
Moreover, the current laws in New York State that prevent speed camera violation information from being used by insurance companies contribute to allowing reckless drivers to evade the costs associated with their behavior, indirectly passing this burden onto responsible drivers.
Legislators should aim to alter this law to hold dangerous drivers accountable by making them pay higher insurance rates.
Moreover, in terms of extreme recidivists residing out of state, legislation is necessary to ensure that the Department of Transportation reports these offenders to the state DMV and their insurance providers if they fail to change their registration and insurance within a required timeframe.
Lastly, the 300,000 courtesy cards available through police unions present another layer of complication, functioning as ‘get out of jail free’ cards for some drivers. It is proposed that individuals with a history of repeated speeding violations should not be spared from tickets, even if they present a courtesy card, to reinforce accountability.
These actions, collectively, would incentivize drivers to adhere to speed limits far more effectively than the minimal current fines, which primarily serve as inconvenience rather than deterrents.
Implementing these proposed actions represents an urgent need for a shift in strategy to improve road safety in New York City and prevent the devastation often caused by reckless driving.
image source from：nyc
