![\"Vehicles](\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Broadway-traffic.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Vehicles zoom down Broadway as a pedestrian waits to cross the street in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., this month. Lawmakers in some states, including New York, are taking steps to curb aggressive driving. (Photo by Shalina Chatlani\/Stateline)<\/p>\n
NEW YORK \u2014 On a frigid December morning along busy Broadway in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York, pedestrians walk rapidly toward the subway. Cars and e-bikes speed along a busy two-lane road and blast through sharp turns during the early rush to get to the office.<\/p>\n
In recent years on this stretch of Broadway, cars have struck<\/a> and killed pedestrians, crashed into businesses<\/a>, and collided <\/a>with parking meters, ripping them out of the ground.<\/p>\n For nearly 50 years, John Arvanitis has owned the Omonia Caf\u00e9 on Broadway. He said he doesn\u2019t see much enforcement of traffic laws.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have a sign that says \u201825,\u2019 but sometimes people go fast. They\u2019ll go past the light,\u201d said Arvanitis, 70. He added that motorcycles and bikes speed down the street too.<\/p>\n One of his diners, 58-year-old Gail Grigaux, chimed in to say that she often sees vehicles buzzing through red lights \u2014 and even barreling down the sidewalk.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s all these mopeds and e-bikes that are really dangerous. Just walking on the street and all of a sudden they zoom right by you,\u201d Grigaux said. \u201cIt\u2019s really frightening because I\u2019m helping my elderly mother, and she can\u2019t respond that quickly to get out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Between 2013 and 2022, the number of traffic-related deaths in the United States increased<\/a> by nearly 23%, from 32,893 to 42,514, according to a March report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pedestrian deaths increased by 50% during the same period, the most recent for which numbers are available.<\/p>\n The CDC noted that the U.S. fared poorly compared with 27 other high-income countries, where all road-related deaths decreased by a median of more than 19% and pedestrian fatalities declined by a median of nearly 25%.<\/p>\n State legislators have noticed.<\/p>\n This year, Virginia<\/a> and Washington<\/a> enacted laws requiring the installation of speed limiting devices in the vehicles of drivers with multiple speeding or reckless driving violations. New Hampshire<\/a> and Wisconsin<\/a> are considering similar legislation to stop so-called super speeders.<\/p>\n So is New York<\/a>. Democratic state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, the sponsor of New York\u2019s bill, said in an interview that the state has increasingly used automated enforcement tools such as speed cameras in school zones and red-light cameras, but that \u201cit became clear that there was a stubborn subset of drivers who continued to pose a problem because of their repeat recidivism and recklessness.\u201d<\/p>\n Gounardes\u2019 bill would require the installation of a speed limiting device if a driver accumulates 11 or more points on their driving record during a two-year period, or receives six or more speed camera or red-light camera tickets in a year.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s legislation in New York and other states comes after a flurry of activity last year, when nine states (Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah, plus Washington, D.C.) enacted<\/a> 19 measures to curb aggressive or reckless driving, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan policy research group.<\/p>\n In New York, the state Senate approved Gounardes\u2019 bill in June and sent it to the Assembly, where it is stuck in committee. He said that while nobody in either party supports dangerous driving, it can be difficult to push through legislation to curb it. He said some of his colleagues seem to believe that \u201cdrivers are entitled to special treatment and that any efforts to hold drivers accountable impinges upon that God-given American right to be free behind the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n Nevertheless, he said he is confident that the legislation eventually will become law.<\/p>\n But Dawn Riendeau, who lives in Queens, knows how difficult it can be to get New York lawmakers to place any limits on drivers. In 2008, her 14-year-old daughter, Angelica Nappi, was killed when a driver with several license suspensions ran a red light and struck the vehicle she was in. For 16 years, Riendeau urged state legislators to approve a law to keep high-risk drivers with multiple license suspensions off the road. It finally went into effect last year.<\/p>\n \u201cI was back and forth with Albany, many of the assemblymen and the senators \u2014 they didn\u2019t like the way the law was worded. They thought it was too harsh,\u201d Riendeau told Stateline. \u201cIt\u2019s just a stepping stone, and there\u2019s definitely much more work that has to be done in order to make our roadway safer, and legislation more punitive.<\/p>\n \u201cDriving is a privilege, and when you get behind the wheel of a car, you have to be very conscious of the decisions that you make,\u201d Riendeau added. \u201cYou really can cause a lot of lifetime damage to people.\u201d<\/p>\n Jessica Cicchino, senior vice president of research at the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said dangerous driving worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when roads emptied and people were under tremendous stress.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw a lot of changes in risky behavior nationwide, more broadly, during the pandemic,\u201d Cicchino said. \u201cWe saw people behaving in risky ways, even outside of their cars.\u201d<\/p>\n But Cicchino noted that traffic enforcement also declined during the pandemic, as officers were encouraged to social distance and to limit unnecessary interactions with residents.<\/p>\n Even before the pandemic, there was rising pressure on police to scale back traffic enforcement. Critics said police disproportionately pulled over Black and Hispanic drivers, and noted that many instances of police misconduct took place during traffic stops. Many officers, increasingly wary of being accused of abuse or racism \u2014 or being involved in deadly encounters \u2014 were happy to pull back.<\/p>\n As a result, the number of traffic stops and citations issued declined precipitously, according to a July report by The New York Times<\/a>. In some places, the newspaper reported, traffic enforcement still hadn\u2019t returned to pre-pandemic levels by 2023.<\/p>\n In New York City, for example, the number of traffic citations issued in 2023 was still 37% lower than in 2018. Between 2019 and 2022, the number of traffic-related deaths in New York rose by 11%.<\/p>\n In other cities where the number of traffic stops or traffic citations lagged post-pandemic, there was an even greater spike in traffic-related deaths: In Memphis, Tennessee, deaths increased by 74%, in Philadelphia they increased by 58%, and in Seattle they were up 39%.<\/p>\n Scott Hall is the owner of the comedy club Grove 34 in Astoria, where he also lives. He said that in his neighborhood, \u201cIt\u2019s literally organized street racing all night. They do doughnuts in the intersections.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnything past 11 o\u2019clock at night is very dangerous to be walking around,\u201d said Hall, 34. He said he believes that if the police were present, \u201cit just wouldn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Another Astoria resident, 39-year-old Jill Wurzburg, started an online<\/a> petition calling on the local police to step up traffic enforcement after a woman in her neighborhood mothers\u2019 group was nearly hit by a car in June while walking with her toddler. A stroller was mangled in the incident but nobody was harmed. The petition has garnered more than 660 signatures so far.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last five years, enforcement of traffic violations has dropped. Ignoring moving violations gives tacit permission to drivers to continue bad behavior, and every parent has noticed how reckless and aggressive drivers in our neighborhood have become,\u201d the petition says.<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as there are no consequences for driving recklessly, drivers will continue to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n The petition notes that a 7-year-old girl was struck and killed by a car in 2023. As the mother of a small child, Wurzburg said she feels unsafe walking around the neighborhood.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s just this culture in Astoria, it seems, of prioritizing drivers over everybody else. And I\u2019m someone who drives to work every day,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that the driving culture here is very dangerous to pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n But it\u2019s difficult to establish a direct causal relationship between traffic enforcement and traffic deaths \u2014 in some cases, aggressive traffic enforcement can increase the danger <\/a>by precipitating high-speed chases. In New York City, for example, police-involved car crashes<\/a> spiked last year.<\/p>\n Some advocates see the greater use of technology, such as speed limiters, as a powerful solution.<\/p>\n Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a group that lobbies for laws to create safer roads, said the group wants to see more state laws mandating speed assistance technology. She said the group also wants more use of speeding and red-light cameras.<\/p>\n \u201cIf people know that they might get a ticket for running a red light or speeding, they\u2019re less likely to engage in that behavior,\u201d Chase told Stateline. \u201cThese automated enforcement systems should be in use in all localities where aggressive and reckless driving is an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n In Washington, state Rep. Mari Leavitt, who sponsored the speed limiter bill signed into law this year, said the measure passed quickly with broad bipartisan support \u2014 notable because new traffic safety laws are often contentious. The new law mandates the installation of speed detection technology in the vehicles of repeat offenders or under a judge\u2019s order.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are dying. In Washington state the top two reasons people die on the roads is because of DUIs and excessive speeding,\u201d said Leavitt, a Democrat. \u201cThis is a really effective tool that is new and innovative that will save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Other jurisdictions, including Queens, believe that engineering changes can make a huge difference.<\/p>\n In November 2024, the New York City Department of Transportation touted the completion <\/a>of a nine-year-project to improve Queens Boulevard \u2014 once known to residents as the \u201cBoulevard of Death\u201d because of its high number of traffic fatalities. The changes include parking-protected curbside bike lanes; pedestrian islands to shorten crossing distances and encourage drivers to make slower, safer turns; and adjustments to traffic signal timing to give pedestrians more time to cross before lights turn green for drivers.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, thanks to changes to the street\u2019s design, traffic injuries and fatalities are down and the street is safer for everyone,\u201d Ydanis Rodriguez, the city\u2019s traffic commissioner, said in a statement at the time.<\/p>\n The project, Rodriguez said, \u201cserves as a reminder that our street redesigns save lives \u2014 regardless of whether you are biking, driving, or walking.\u201d<\/p>\n Stateline reporter Shalina Chatlani can be reached at schatlani@stateline.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/broadway-restaurateur.jpg\")
![\"Gail](\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/broadway-resident.jpg\")
Officers pulling back<\/h4>\n
![\"Scott](\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/broadway-club-owner.jpg\")
The power of technology<\/h4>\n