Brooklyn, NY – In response to concerns Councilman David G. Greenfield has heard from parents, yeshivas and bus drivers, the NYPD will begin a crackdown on drivers who illegally pass yellow school buses stopped to pick up or drop off children. Over the past few months, Greenfield’s office has seen a spike in complaints of drivers disregarding school buses’ red stop signs and dangerously passing them on local avenues and streets.
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“We need to take action against these reckless and irresponsible drivers before a child is chas v’shalom killed getting on or off a school bus. It’s really shocking how many drivers take such a dangerous risk just to save a few seconds,” remarked Greenfield. “This is our community. I urge all drivers to slow down on local streets and be especially careful around school buses and children. I’m confident that NYPD enforcement of trouble spots around the 66th Precinct will go a long way towards curtailing this growing problem.”
This issue is especially worrisome in Brooklyn’s Jewish neighborhoods, which are home to dozens of schools and thousands of children who are transported on yellow buses every day. In recent weeks, Greenfield’s office has heard complaints from bus drivers, yeshivas and parents who are concerned about the increase in drivers ignoring bus stop signs. The problem has gotten so severe that some bus drivers now park diagonally across the avenue while dropping off children to ensure no vehicles pass, despite the risk of tickets and license points this carries for drivers.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children ages 5 to 14 are more likely to die from motor vehicle traffic injuries, including pedestrian injuries, than any other cause. Nearly one in five traffic deaths among children ages 14 and under are pedestrian deaths. The CDC notes that children are at greater risk of injury or death from traffic crashes due to their small size, inability to judge distances and speeds, and lack of experience with traffic rules. In a recent study, Safe Kids USA found that nearly 60% of students encounter serious hazards including complicated traffic conditions, improper parking and speeding drivers on their route to school.
Yide Lieb Zorger, director of transportation for United Talmudical Academy of Satmar, which is the largest school in Borough Park and is responsible for transporting thousands of children every day, said a student was struck several weeks ago by a car illegally passing a stopped school bus at 10th Avenue and 46th Street. He noted that due to the proximity of so many schools in the area, there are more than 100 buses on local streets at certain times each day.
“This problem is getting worse and worse and is occurring on a daily basis to almost every bus. Nobody has respect for the flashing red lights in Borough Park,” said Zorger. “It’s a miracle these days that nothing happens on a daily basis. These are our children we’re talking about, and the bottom line is, if a bus is stopped, you can’t pass it.”
Deputy Inspector John Sprague, commanding officer of the 66th Precinct, agreed. “I have directed my officers to crack down on motorists who dangerously and illegally pass school buses on local streets. Drivers must realize how dangerous this behavior is for pedestrians, especially school children,” he said. “I am happy to work with Councilman Greenfield to make our streets safer, and the 66th Precinct is committed to taking action in response to community concerns. I urge all motorists to be cognizant and look out for the safety of our children, pedestrians and other motorists by following all vehicle, traffic and safety laws.”
I’d like to see the 66 pct clamp down on wild school bus drivers as well as city bus drivers
They should triple the tickets for offenders.
I must say this was way overdue and thank you mr zorger for helping stop this madness.
We are proud of your work!!!
bus drivers are also committing a crime as they pick up and drop off kids they purposely block two lane street so to prevent cars to pass, only Heimesh school buses do do this type of shticks but not Atlantic express or American run school yellow buses instead of doing it the right way.
This is about time. Our children are more precious than the time spent waiting for buses to pick up our dear children!
Ticket these illegal passers and fine them BIG DOLLARS!
Hey, come to Flatbush, you’ll be busy writing summonses ALL DAY LONG!!! It’s gotten so out of hand here too. Can’t stand the young mommies who find it so important to yap on their phones while passing a school bus. Then they have the chutzpah to make faces at you for being upset.
First crack down on the bus drivers who drive like animals, run stop signs, cross double yellow lines to pick up kids and make 5 stops on a block. Every example I’ve given happens on a daily basis and I witness it on the way to work EVERY day.
And satmar drivers are the worst offenders. How can you justify 5 stops on 53rd street between 18&19th; avenue???
It’s about time. Thank you Councilman Greenfield for pushing the NYPD on this but Election 2012 is also right and you can add police cars which I saw passing a stopped school bus with it’s red lights and extended stop sign flashing.aw
Then the members of the community better not protest when their own get in legal trouble…
And how about ticketing school bus drivers driving away while the child is still on the steps & the door still open, or while dropping off kids the driver doesn’t wait till the child is on the sidewalk but zooms off leaving the child on the gutter , or drivers talking on cell phones & making a short stop halfway down the block because he forgot to let the child off the bus (& all this while having a bus teacher on the bus )
First time double the fine
Second time confiscate the car and sell it.
Nobody would pass a school bus
Yasher Koach Councilman Greenfield! We applaud your efforts and urge you to continue to crackdown on ALL the “reckless and irresponsible drivers” in our neighborhoods. If you could do something to eliminate the illegal double parking (specially on 13th Ave) that would also be a great accomplishment.
The offenders are not just gentiles, but yidden as well, who flagrantly violate the law with their reckless driving, and their lack of derech eretz! Sometimes, it is similar to the wild west, pertaining to the driving habits of some Brooklyn motorists. Some of these drivers act like cowboys when they are behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. Pedestrians who are legally crossing the light are treated with contempt by some of these drivers, who honk their horns, because in their view, the pedestrians are not moving fast enough for them to make a turn.
I am sick of reading comments about how to punish drivers, tripling tickets, etc. The smartest consequence would be mandatory suspension of drivers license for 6 months. It is about finding such a driver unready to handle the privilege of driving. True, one can physically drive without a license even though it is against the law, but penalties for that are also severe. We need to make consequences fit the crime, and money does not compensate for the danger created by unsafe driving.
Anyone who gives someone in Boro Park a ticket is automatically an anti-Semite!
Ask anyone there who has ever received a ticket.
how about bus drivers who double and triple park by satmar on 14th avenue between 53 & 54 street for hours with lights flashing and nobody on the bus. some of the bus drivers out there think they are driving tanks in russia
on 21st ave by cemetry its like a freeway cars passing busses 50mph
the people agreeing with this crackdown are going to be very upset when they get pulled over for doing it. and then you’ll say I stopped I stopped what are you targeting yidden unfairly for? Boropark has many problems not just this. Why cant they make everyone wait on the corner its ridiculous to stop 6 times on a street and cause so much traffic. make the poor kids walk with other kids to the corner.and how about garbage pickup DURING street cleaning, nobody ever follows logical ideas
Let the NYPD also crack down on these mini van school bus drivers, one of which was aiming directly at me as I was crossing E. 27th Street and Avenue L and barely missed hitting me.
Yes, the policy is correct. Now also clarify why;
1, A bus needs to make 3 separate stops on the same block within a distance of 60 feet.
2, Why a bus can not demand that the Mother be waiting on the correct side of the street. I often am behind buses that stop and WAIT for the mother to shlep out of her house, cross, talk to the driver and then cross back.
If the parent is not ready leave and come back or close the door and then turn the flashers off.
How about giving tickets to school bus drivers who drive while the lights are flashing?
How about giving tickets to drivers who chat with the parents – sometimes for two or three minutes – while traffic is backed up for blocks (I wish you could ticket the parents).
Wait, what about the mothers who take their time sending out the kids because she thinks the world should revolve around them???
how about ticketing the bus drivers who stop traffic for a drop off where the door opens to the same side as the house.
HOW ABOUT the rabbis announce that driving in way that puts a childs life at risk is WORSE than eating pork, WORSE than breaking shabbos and WORSE than having the tip of your esrog snap off. Since everyone in BP is so erliche, such a declaration would stop this type of driving overnight, no?
that is y i moved out of brooklyn it would take me sometimes over 45 min to get to work in the morning . work was less then 3 miles from my house . i once sat behind a bus for about a half hr because some snob double parked and the bus could not pass
While I do agree that everyone must obey the law and stop for school buses, I do empathize with someone driving in B.P. and having to wait on a single block for the bus to stop every few houses to pick up kids. why isn’t there ONE busstop per block?! How spoiled has our community become where mothers feel justified in waiting in the comfort of their homes until the bus honks, and THEN coming out, crossing, getting the child on the bus, crossing back over, all while cars are backed up waiting and waiting, only to have to see it happen again and again just a few doors down! in other neighborhoods parents all wait together at the same stop, sometimes blocks away from their home. Some people in B.P. feel they own the neighborhood.