Wednesday’s Headlines: Stop Them Before They Kill Edition

The big story yesterday started out like so many of the roughly 230 crashes that are reported every single day in this city: A driver slammed into an MTA bus at around 1:30 a.m., sending the bus hurtling into a building. The breaking story seemed almost innocuous:

“There were no passengers on the bus, and the residents of the building were not injured,” News12 reported. “Meanwhile, the driver of the Honda, a 26-year-old man, was taken to NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn by EMS for minor injuries. The MTA bus driver was not hurt.” (ABC7 also had a cursory story.)

But the plot slowly thickened: Within a few hours, Transportation Alternatives alerted the press that the driver who hit the bus was a notorious super-speeder who had accumulated 16 speed camera tickets and one red-light camera ticket in just 12 months (the Brooklyn Paper also covered).

So, no, this wasn’t just a little fender-bender, but the latest example of an impotent system that can’t even keep known reckless drivers from getting behind the wheel to maim and kill again. It’s not like the city doesn’t know who this driver is — the Department of Transportation’s cameras keep snapping this guy driving recklessly all the time.

TA used the crash to once again call for the passage of state Sen. Andrew Gounardes’s bill to require speed-limiter technology to be installed inside the cars of the worst drivers. The bill fell to powerful anti-safety interests in the Legislature last year, as Streetsblog’s Amy Sohn reported.

“If the Stop Super Speeders bill had already passed, this crash never would have happened,” Joe Jankoski, a member of Families for Safe Streets, said in a statement. “Until the State Assembly passes the bill, more crashes like this will undoubtedly occur.”

Jankoski also referenced his girlfriend Amanda Servedio, who was killed by a reckless driver last year in Astoria.

“Nothing can bring back my partner, or anyone else affected by a super speeder, but crashes like these can be prevented,” he said. “Pass the bill now.”

The incident also reminded us of our recent story of how many drivers are already on this list to have their car towed away for unpaid repeat violations, yet are simply not towed. This is a three-alarm problem, and this city and state haven’t even brought out the garden hose yet.

In other news:

• Speaking of Gounardes, the Brooklyn Democrat broadened his brood — though his reference to buying a minivan was a bit alarming. (X.com)
• The other big story of the day was the cementing of Mayor Adams’s very positive legacy on getting New York’s 5 o’clock shadow — black garbage bags — off the sidewalk with the expansion of the containerization program to the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Downtown. Our Kevin Duggan’s coverage was comprehensive, but other outlets were on hand to, of course, depict the trash revolution as a “loss” of “parking.” (Gothamist)
• The MTA set a new post-pandemic high for ridership. (amNY)
• This cop better listen to Jimmy and the Jaywalkers’ hit, “Criminal Mischief” … because he just got arrested for committing it. (NYDN)
• A cop crashed his squad car in Manhattan. (Patch)
• The Times wants us to bemoan “bad” pedestrians, huh? Hey, Gray Lady, now do car drivers.
• Council Member Amanda Farías offered a full-throated confirmation of our reporting on Gov. Hochul’s Cross-Bronx expansion boondoggle. (City Limits)
• Steve Cohen’s casino plans in Queens are really riling up the locals. (Queens Eagle)
• Time magazine celebrated the quiet dignity of Deliveristas leader Gustavo Ajche.