Bid to get tougher on hit-run drivers

A “STAGGERING” number of drivers are fleeing the scenes of crashes, the NYPD revealed Wednesday — as cops backed legislation to jack up fines for some hit-and-runs.

So far this year, there have been 38,000 hit-and-run crashes, police officials said — and only a small percentage of those drivers have faced enforcement.

“I think it’s staggering,” said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who, upon learning the statistics, sponsored the bill to toughen penalties.

Police Inspector Dennis Fulton told the Council that 4,000 hit-and-runs have injured people, and another 34,000 have caused property damage. The number was about the same last year.

Of those, 480 drivers faced criminal charges, and another 475 were given moving violations. There were 48 accidents with “catastrophic” injuries — 28 of those drivers were arrested. Thirtyone of those crashes resulted in death.

The bill by Van Bramer (D-Queens, photo right) would increase fines for repeat offenders in hit-and-runs to $1,000 in a crash with property damage; $2,000 to $5,000 if someone is injured; $5,000 to $10,000 if the injury is serious, and $10,000 if someone is killed.

A bill passed last year created the city civil penalties for the first time, from $500 for a minor crash to $5,000 to $10,000 for a death.

It’s already a crime under state law to leave the scene of an accident. The city fines are in addition to any criminal penalty. But the burden of proof is higher for criminal charges, whereas with the city fines it’s up to the driver to challenge the punishment.

“We have to make sure the worst of the worst face real consequences for repeat offenses,” Van Bramer said.

He was prompted to introduce the bill by the case of Jack Montelbano, a truck driver convicted of a hit-and-run that killed a 69-year-old woman — after fatally hitting another person and leaving the scene at the same Hell’s Kitchen intersection years earlier, according to prosecutors.

“The bill would hold the most irresponsible drivers accountable for the basic decency that one would expect from those operating motor vehicles on our crowded streets,” Fulton said.

Steve Vaccaro, a lawyer who handles traffic injury cases, said the enforcement numbers are so low because outside of the most serious crashes and incidents in prime areas of Manhattan, most hitand-run accidents are forgotten.

“There is no investigation of the hitand-run,” he said. “There’s a huge gap.” On Wednesday, a 68-year-old pedestrian was critically injured when he was struck by a car in Heartland Village on Staten Island around 5:10 p.m., cops said.

Earlier in the day, 84-yearold Liana Platika was fatally struck by a garbage truck in in Midtown. The drivers of both vehicles remained on scene.