City road law freewheeling
Mandatory safety class ‘unenforced’
Thousands of reckless city drivers who repeatedly speed and run red lights have been able to skirt road safety courses, leaving them dangerously roaming the streets, The Post has learned.
While 16,000 drivers have been caught on camera multiple times flouting traffic laws, barely 1,000 have been notified that they need to take a mandatory safety course or have their vehicles seized, as per a 2020 city law, records show.
Of those notified, only 630 have completed the safety course.
The some 370 other drivers are supposed to have their vehicles seized by sheriffs — but only 12 have had their cars taken.
“The glaring discrepancy between the number of people who failed to take the course . . . and the number of vehicles ultimately . . . lets reckless drivers off the hook,’’ city Comptroller Brad Lander wrote last week to the Department of Transportation.
The Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program, signed into law by ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio, targets drivers with five or more red-light violations or more than 14 speedcamera tickets within 12 months.
Some 5,000 drivers were initially ordered to participate in the program, Lander wrote in his letter, but the DOT isn’t on pace to cover the 5,000-vehicle pilot program before the bill expires in 2023.
The DOT “is clearly facing implementation challenges due to staff capacity constraints,” wrote Lander, who as council member in 2018 sponsored the bill after a driver killed several people in his Park Slope, Brooklyn, district.
The Sheriff’s Office has only issued 115 warrants for vehicle seizures because of a monthslong administrative process, according to information shared with the comptroller’s office. Many drivers get new vehicles or license plates during that period, the letter said.
A DOT rep said Sunday that enough people have done the program to evaluate its effectiveness.
“After building this pilot program from scratch in the middle of a pandemic, DOT has engaged over 1,000 vehicle owners,” spokesman Vin Barone said.