The next van attack could be right here
From neo-Nazis to radical Islamists, cars, vans and trucks have become the weapon of choice for terrorists across the extremist spectrum. Right now, details are still unfolding in Barcelona, where a driver crashed onto a sidewalk in a heavily touristed district, killing at least 13 pedestrians and injuring 50.
Closer to home, the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Va., under the wheels of a driver motivated by a hateful ideology shows that the United States is not immune from the kind of vehicular terrorism that has unfolded in Europe and the Mideast.
Yet shockingly, some state legislatures are blind to the weaponization of motor vehicles against protestors at best, and are tacitly condoning it at worst. They are setting a dangerous precedent by attempting to codify removing responsibility from drivers who kill and maim.
Earlier this year, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed House Bill 330, which would grant civil and criminal immunity to drivers who unintentionally hit pedestrians in the street.
State legislatures in Florida, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas also have similar bills in development. Texas state Rep. Pat Fallon introduced a particularly chilling bill explicitly stating that a driver shall not be held liable if “the person injured was blocking traffic in a public right-of-way while participating in a protest or demonstration.”
Constitutionally protected assembly that streams into the street would essentially be punishable by death by auto — with the state giving the driver its blessing.
It is common sense that the NYPD should guard against these heinous acts of violence, whether intentional and unintentional, by limiting vehicular access during marches and other forms of mass assembly that are only growing in popularity.
The coming weeks will be especially important, as more take to the streets to counter the offensive that the white nationalist movement is now spreading beyond Charlottesville to the streets of New York City.
But the city should go further to make pedestrian protections and vehicular restrictions permanent. Not everywhere, but in those areas of the city that are particularly dense with pedestrians and vulnerable to attack. The benefits are myriad.
For one, more lives will be saved. For every intentional act of vehicular terrorism, there are hundreds of deadly pedestrian crashes that are caused by driver negligence. Just in the past two years alone, 16 New Yorkers have been killed by drivers jumping curbs, veering onto sidewalks and killing innocent pedestrians. This spring, 18-year-old Alyssa Elsman, a visitor from Michigan, died when she was hit by a rampaging driver who could have killed many more had it not been for protective metal bollards stopping his car from continuing through Times Square.
Giving pedestrians more protected and car-free space will have other benefits as well. Union Square, Diversity Plaza, even Times Square are but a few of the public spaces where free speech and assembly already flourish. By expanding their footprint, these spaces can provide even more of a forum for New Yorkers to rally in public.
Public assemblies can be safer, more effective and more welcoming if streets surrounding often-overcrowded sites like Washington Square Park and Union Square are pedestrianized and spaces are networked to serve as local hubs.
Expanding temporary programs like Summer Streets and Weekend Walks into longer-term public space initiatives would have the added benefit of facilitating greater community engagement at a time when the country seems more divided than ever.
The use of motor vehicles as weapons has become too strong a pattern to deny, or to assume that it can’t happen here. As the terrorist threat looms and as white nationalists bring the fight to New York City streets, we have a responsibility to protect our citizenry. We also have a special responsibility as the nation’s most pedestrian, most diverse and most tolerant city to show the nation and the world that one of the greatest antidotes to tyranny is people assembling in public space together.