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De Blasio Signs 11 Traffic Safety Bills as Part of 'Vision Zero' Initiative

 The signing took place near the Woodside intersection where an 8-year-old was killed in December.
Mayor Be Blasio Signs Vision Zero Bills in Woodside
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WOODSIDE — Mayor Bill de Blasio took a major step in his "Vision Zero" initiative Monday, signing 11 bills into law that are meant to bolster traffic safety and increase penalties for dangerous driving.

The mayor signed the bills at an event at P.S. 152 in Woodside, just down the street from the intersection where 8-year-old Noshat Nahian was struck and killed while crossing Northern Boulevard on his way to school in December.

The area was where de Blasio officially launched his Vision Zero plan in January. Shortly before his bill-signing Monday, the mayor toured the nearby intersection of Northern Boulevard and 61st Street, where the Department of Transportation has implemented a number of safety upgrades in the wake of Noshat's death.

"Every parent at that moment understands, when you stand in a spot where a child was lost, you feel something," de Blasio said. "And I certainly felt, again, the loss of a young boy that we wish so deeply was here with us today, and we, in his memory, are taking real actions to make sure we won't lose other children."

The package of bills the mayor signed includes one that establishes penalties for vehicles that fail to yield to pedestrians and bicyclists, another that bans stunts on motorcycles and a third that requires the DOT to install seven Neighborhood Slow Zones this year and next.

The package also includes "Cooper's Law," which requires the Taxi & Limousine Commission to suspend a driver involved in a crash in which a person is critically injured or dies, and where the driver receives a summons for any traffic-related violation.

The law was named for Cooper Stock, a 9-year-old who was killed on the Upper West Side in January when a cabdriver failed to yield to him while he was crossing the street with his father.

"These bills really do important things for our city," De Blasio said.