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Is the DOT Letting Reckless Drivers "Off the Hook"?

Is the DOT Letting Reckless Drivers "Off the Hook"?

By Yehudit Garmaise

The Department of Transportation DOT has neglected to keep reckless drivers off of NYC’s streets, despite a 2020 law that aims to seize the vehicles of speedsters, unless they complete a safety course, according to NYC Comptroller Lander, who sponsored the law.

After speed cameras repeatedly caught 16,000 NYC reckless drivers who failed to stop at red lights and dramatically exceeded speed limits, only 1,000 of those speedsters were notified that local sheriffs would seize their vehicles unless they took the safety course.

The New York Post reported that of the 1,000 lawbreakers who were notified, only 630 completed the city's required driving safety course. Shockingly, only 12 cars have been taken from the remaining 370 drivers who failed to take the safety course.

In a letter addressed to the city's Department of Transportation (DOT) last week, City Comptroller Brad Lander wrote, "The glaring discrepancy between the number of people who failed to take the course, the number of warrants issued, and the number of vehicles ultimately impounded significantly weakens the [Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program (DVAP)’s] enforcement mechanisms- which lets reckless drivers off the hook."

Signed into law during the pandemic, when reckless driving started to skyrocket in NYC, DVAP seeks to target, educate, and, if necessary, punish drivers with either five or more red-light violations or 15 or more speed-camera tickets in a 12-month period. 

Five thousand reckless drivers qualified to participate in DVAP when the bill first became law. However, as the city continued to install speed cameras in hundreds of new locations, the number of drivers caught on camera, putting others' lives at risk, grew significantly.

As a council member, Lander pushed for the DVAP after a driver killed several people in his Park Slope district in 2018. Lander wondered in his letter to the DOT whether the agency was having trouble implementing the program because of "staff capacity constraints."

Representatives from NYC's Sheriff's Office said that they have only issued 115 warrants for vehicle seizures because the DOT has to prepare each case individually before scheduling a time for each case to be heard by the city's Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.

During the nine months it takes the DOT to hear each case, many scofflaws simply get new vehicles or use new license plates to continue driving recklessly, Lander said in his letter.


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