New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton will step down at the end of the month, so we thought we’d take a look back on his tenure to see what kind of impact he’s had on traffic safety in the five boroughs.
At the start, advocates were optimistic.
We congratulate incoming #NYPD Commissioner #Bratton & look forward to working with him to reduce pedestrian/cyclist fatalities citywide.
— Tri-State Transportation Campaign (@Tri_State) December 5, 2013
INBOX: @transalt:
“To achieve his Vision Zero goal, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio is smart
to appoint Bill Bratton to lead
the NYPD"— Dan Rivoli (@danrivoli) December 5, 2013
But the honeymoon didn’t last long.
23 more pedestrians were killed in #NYC in 2013 than in 2012. Bratton says #pedestrian error is to blame for these "accidents."
— Tri-State Transportation Campaign (@Tri_State) January 15, 2014
In the first weeks of 2014, his department was hard at work cracking down on so-called “jaywalkers.”
In response to pedestrian fatalities, NYPD cracks down on jaywalkers. This is ass backwards. http://t.co/36PtdupKT1
— Gawker (@Gawker) January 20, 2014
Bratton even defended the actions of two officers who roughed up an 84-year-old pedestrian on the Upper West Side.
Bratton defended officers’ handling of an 84-year-old man left bloodied in a confrontation with cops over jaywalking. http://t.co/Z9CMnedJ65
— WNYC 🎙 (@WNYC) January 21, 2014
But traffic fatalities were down, and by April, the city’s new Vision Zero initiative seemed to be working.
NYC traffic fatalities down 26% so far in 2014, @CommissBratton gives credit to #visionzero program http://t.co/KEJC5Tjru0
— Tri-State Transportation Campaign (@Tri_State) April 3, 2014
And by the end of 2014, pedestrian deaths for a single year in New York City had hit a record low. So the focus turned to bicyclists…
https://twitter.com/PoliticsInNYC/status/499874185204998144
…and, strangely, the Times Square pedestrian plazas.
Here’s Bill Bratton on Times Square pedestrian plazas: “I’d prefer to just dig the whole damn thing up.” http://t.co/4DsQzkoYdm
— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) August 20, 2015
Bratton has a point. There are no topless women on the Cross-Bronx Expressway. Let's replicate that success story! http://t.co/NsEbRYnWz2
— Aaron Naparstek (@Naparstek) August 20, 2015
Really @CommissBratton? If you can't get a handle on Times Square, how can we trust your leadership elsewhere in NYC? http://t.co/ER4J70kjNg
— Tri-State Transportation Campaign (@Tri_State) August 27, 2015
Though, fortunately it was short lived.
.@CommissBratton stops playing city planner, says #TimesSquare to get "dedicated contingent of police officers." http://t.co/Hkf4zGkyhg
— Tri-State Transportation Campaign (@Tri_State) September 22, 2015
And for a second straight year, traffic deaths fell in New York City, a testament to Vision Zero.
#VisionZero made 2015 the safest year on record, fatalities down 22%, but more being done, w/ our efforts sustained by @NYC_SafeStreets
— Ydanis Rodriguez (@ydanis) February 5, 2016
The hope of achieving a third consecutive year of falling traffic deaths seemed less likely after Commissioner Bratton spoke at the Vision Zero for Cities conference last March. In an interview with the New York Times’ Jill Abramson, he continually used the word “accident” to describe traffic crashes and dismissed the city’s Vision Zero initiative as little more than a “nice goal to aspire to.”
Police Commissioner Bratton can't see zero traffic deaths under de Blasio's Vision Zero plan https://t.co/KcJgh4b6KM
— NYDN Transit (@NYDNTransit) March 11, 2016
Traffic deaths fell in the first five months of 2016, but after a particularly deadly June, we’re on track to see more fatalities on New York City streets this year than in 2015. And after two deadly crashes in Williamsburg last month, we can’t help but wonder if Bratton has done enough to change the NYPD’s culture.
If there’s anything we can learn from Bratton’s tenure, it’s that city leaders who are serious about eliminating traffic deaths must make sure police are fully on board. Yes, traffic deaths fell in the two years following the launch of Vision Zero, but it’s not clear to what extent Commissioner Bratton deserves credit.
