Mayor Giuliani addressed the surge in traffic deaths - overall traffic accidents and fatalities rose 10% last year - in his State of the City address yesterday. He blamed the rise on "too many people driving aggressively" and promised a crackdown modeled on the City's stringent drunk driving policy. Vehicles of those charged with a misdemeanor, meaning three simultaneous moving violations, will be seized upon arrest. The City will boost enforcement by equipping twenty-five police with front- and rear-positioned video cameras to record the license plates of speeding or reckless cars.

Advocates for pedestrians and cyclists said the initiative, if vigorously implemented, could make a difference. Right of Way's Charlie Komanoff told the NY Times, "If the police truly target (reckless drivers), this could start a renaissance for non-motorized travel. Maybe ordinary New Yorkers, not just daredevils, will finally be able to ride a bike and feel safe." Transportation Alternatives' John Kaehny also applauded the crack-down and suggested increased enforcement of speed limits as well as wider introduction of automated photo-radar devices at street-lights.

A cyclist rally at City Hall organized by Transportation Alternatives that was extensively covered on television last weekend helped frame the issue of reckless driving. At the "rider remembrance rally," 35 cyclists lay on the ground with their bicycles, while close to 100 supporters joined hands in a circle. The demonstrators called for measures ranging from police ticketing of tailgating drivers and stricter penalties for reckless driving as well as enactment of laws to establish the principle of motorized vehicles yielding to non-motorized vehicles wherever clear criteria like traffic signals don't apply.

In news stories and television interviews, NYPD spokespersons have stated that cyclist error, not drivers, was the "primary contributing factor" in 74% of the 35 fatal bike crashes in New York City last year. Bicycle advocates rejected these claims, saying the NYPD's victim-blaming gave reckless drivers further license to bully cyclists. More than 80% of the cyclists were killed outside of Manhattan (16 died in Brooklyn alone), and almost two-thirds were age 30 or over.

"The proper criterion," said Right Of Way spokesman Charles Komanoff, is "Would the cyclist be alive if the driver had obeyed the law?" Komanoff charged the police with routinely accepting drivers' version of crashes, as well as seeking to absolve themselves of responsibility. In its Killed By Automobile report, Right Of Way found that drivers were culpable in more than half of cyclist deaths and in almost all pedestrian deaths in New York City in 1997.

Right Of Way activists are insisting that the department release all 1999 crash reports for public analysis and review and may be headed to court to obtain them.