After Driver Kills Kids, Mayor Calls for Stiffer Penalties for Errant Motorists

Mayor Bill de Blasio wants the state to take a harder line on careless drivers after two young children were killed last week when a woman with eight moving violations ran a red light.

Dorothy Bruns, the driver in the Park Slope crash, had four outstanding tickets for running red lights, as well as four speeding tickets, all issued in the past two years. But they were all issued automatically from cameras. While it normally takes three speeding or misdemeanor traffic violations within 18 months for someone to have their license suspended, tickets issued from red light and speed cameras don't carry the same penalties. That's because officials can't say for sure if the owner of the car was driving it at the time the violations were observed.

De Blasio wants the state Department of Motor Vehicles, which oversees driver's licenses and vehicle registrations, to close that loophole and make the owner of the car responsible.

On Thursday, de Blasio outlined legislation that would gradually increase the penalties from $50 for the first two violations, to $150 for a third, and $250 for a fourth. After receiving the fifth ticket, the fine would be $300 and a call would be placed to the owner's insurance company; on the sixth, $350 and loss of registration.

"If someone else is driving your vehicle and they're regularly speeding and blowing through stop signs and red lights you shouldn't let them drive the vehicle," de Blasio said. "You have to take responsibility, so now you're part of it too."

De Blasio also proposed a law, similar to one in New Jersey, that requires police, courts, physicians, and family members to contact the motor vehicle department if someone they know may have medical or physical conditions that would affect their ability to drive safely. It has been reported that Bruns had a seizure at the time of the crash, though the NYPD and the Brooklyn District Attorney are still investigating the crash and wouldn't comment.

In New Jersey, 55 percent of the people referred to the New Jersey Motor Commission for having a medical condition go on to have their driving privileges suspended or receive regular monitoring.

Mayor de Blasio also called on the state legislature to double the number of speed cameras in the city. Currently, the state caps the number of cameras at 140. He also wants the state to place them in a wider radius around schools, rather than just in front of schools.

Bruns' license has been suspended, following the crash, but she has not been arrested. According to the NYPD, a driver could be arrested if he killed someone while failing to yield to a pedestrian, was intoxicated, or later identified as leaving the scene of an accident.