What Is Traffic Justice?
The Traffic Justice movement addresses a broad range of concerns, but at the most practical level it is concerned with the "windshield perspective" that too often hampers the criminal investigation, prosecution and punishment of assaults committed by motor vehicles. Unless a motorist is driving while intoxicated or leaves the scene of a crash, police and prosecutors typically assume that crash was an "accident" and that "no criminality was involved"--even if the motorist's violation of one or more traffic laws caused the crash. The person responsible for the "accident" often faces no criminal penalty, or at worst receives a summons, even when their actions result in death. Each year, the press reports hundreds of traffic deaths and countless more serious injuries in the NYC area are simply chalked up as unfortunate and inevitable "accidents," to which no coordinated public response apparently is required. Proponents of Traffic Justice seek to hold accountable motorists who, regardless of whether they are sober or stay at the scene of the crash, kill and injure people by violating traffic laws without due regard for the safety of other, often more vulnerable street users. Essential to this taks is bringing to light the details of the crashes and their investigation and prosecution by government authorities.
Why Traffic Justice FOIL Requests?
All too often, the mainstream media account of a traffic crash report only the most basic details of the crash and the conclusion of NYPD investigators that "no criminality was involved." Except in cases of DWI, information about the potential cause or causes of the crash usually are not provided by the police to the press, nor do the press gather those details from other sources and report them. Or, sometimes, self-serving statements by the motorist about the cause of the crash are reported while the injured or dead victim's side of the story is unreported. Once the fact of the crash is reported and the conclusion of "no criminality" is reached, the entire event fades into the realm of obscurity and statistics.
However police investigations typically continue past the date of the crash, and prosecutorial review may occur when the ivnestigation is concluded. The police investigation will include gathering statements of eyewitnesses, physical evidence at the scene of the crash, and making observations regarding dangerous conditions in the road. These details usually do not become public without request for information under the Freedom of Information Law.
The public ordinarily relies on the press to investigate and report on matters of public concern. But when the mainstream media shares a windshield perspective with reckless motorists and the police and prosecutors charged with bringing them to justice, the public must get involved or the truth will never come out. Media such as Streetsblog can play a critical role in publicizing a failure of traffic justice, but do not have the time or the resources to pursue FOIL requests.
The goal of this group is to encourage Traffic Justice advocates to pursue FOIL requests for information concerning traffic crashes, and to share the information and discuss the information with each other and the public. Great work has been done to honor the memory of crash victims and raise awareness of the need for Traffic Justice. Bringing to light the circumstances of the crashes is equally important.
How Does This Group Work?
Participants should try to each take responsibility for a crash, by gathering together media reports and other avaiable public information regarding the crash. Photos or video clips of the scene of the crash may also help to understand why the crash occurred. Participants should then make a FOIL request to the NYPD seeking information about the crash. Mmake sure to advise other members of the group of your FOIL requests, so that group members do not waste time with duplicative requests. Basic information on how to make a request is avaiable here, and participants can discuss problems or issues with their requests in blog entries such as this one.
When responses are received, the documents can be uploaded as attachments to blog entries and analyzed and discussed by the group. Streetsblog and other journalists will have access to the information and can publicize it more widely.
Here's sample blog entry for a fatal crash that occurred in December 2006.