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Improper Turn Summonses Jump 1,100 Percent Under Vision Zero

By Katie Honan | October 27, 2014 7:32am | Updated on October 27, 2014 7:57am
 The 110th precinct has targeted enforcement on failure to yield and speeding, reducing predestrian injuries
The 110th precinct has targeted enforcement on failure to yield and speeding, reducing predestrian injuries
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ELMHURST — Police officers from the 110th Precinct have stepped up their traffic enforcement to coincide with the city’s Vision Zero initiative in the past year, issuing hundreds more tickets in a bid to tamp down on pedestrian fatalities across the area. 

The precinct, which covers parts of Corona and Elmhurst, handed out more hazardous summonses overall to drivers this year, 7,436 compared with 6,881 in the same time period in 2013. 

The 110th precinct gave out 224 summonses for improper turns, compared with only 18 last year an eye-popping 1,144 percent jump.

There was also a 383 percent jump in speeding tickets — 449 of which were issued so far this year compared with 93 over the same time last year, statistics show.

The jump also included 193 percent more failure-to-yield to pedestrian tickets issued by police, from 341 last year to 999 in 2014.

Speeding and failure to yield are two of the main causes for pedestrian fatalities, according to the city. 

Tickets to drivers who drove past school buses despite stop signs and flashing lights went up 559 percent since 2013, from 22 summonses to 145.

Pedestrian injuries have gone down 13 percent since last year, and there's been a 31 percent decline compared with 2012 numbers, according to NYPD statistics. 

The safety push has been an integral part of the 110th precinct’s policing, but a greater importance was placed on it with the Vision Zero initiative, according to Deputy Inspector Ronald Leyson.

“Traffic safety has always been a main focal point with the police department,” he said.

“Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero strategy is more directly focusing on the reduction in bike and pedestrian injuries and fatalities, therefore there’s been a slight shift on specific summonses related to that.”

Leyson stressed that the ticket blitz is about quality over quantity.

“Everything that [police officers] do should be to create a positive change on the community, whether it’s a traffic or quality-of-life enforcement,” he said. “It’s not just number for number.”