Two bills which may soon be making their way to the New York City Council aim to weaken the Right of Way Law, one of the City’s strongest tools for protecting pedestrians.

The Right of Way Law, passed in 2014, increased penalties for drivers who fail to exercise due care and injure a person with the right of way — such as a pedestrian crossing with a WALK signal. Driving a motor vehicle without due care exposes other drivers, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists and other roadway users to the ongoing risk of injuries or death. Since the beginning of 2014, nine pedestrians were killed by MTA buses when they had the right of way, but Intro 663, introduced by Councilmember I. Daneek Miller, would exempt MTA bus drivers from the Right of Way Law.

This is entirely unwarranted. The due care standard is not created for the benefit of the driver of the vehicle; it exists to protect all others using the roadway. Bus drivers, like all drivers, are expected to be careful when operating their vehicles.

The other not-yet-introduced bill, proposed by Councilmember Rory Lancman, would create a definition of what due care means. Currently, what amounts to due care is a question of fact, determined based on the specific circumstances surrounding a given incident. It is a commonly used concept based on how the average person – in this case driver – would behave under the particular circumstances surrounding the incident. Since no two traffic crashes are identical, to create a more specific definition would limit the use of the law.

To use another example, the New York State VAT § 1146 is similar to the Right of Way Law and also requires drivers to exercise due care. But just like New York City’s current Right of Way Law, it does not include a definition for due care, because there is no way to legislate every possible factor that would need to be considered in highly factual, unique incidents.

Seven pedestrians and cyclists were killed by New York City drivers — and 991 more were injured — in April 2015 alone, and 44 percent of pedestrians struck by drivers were in crosswalks. It’s time we asked Councilmembers Miller and Lancman, should we really be unnecessarily tying our hands or making exceptions to the law?