Killing a Pedestrian Warrants Nary a Slap on the Wrist in NYC

"In this city of walkers, where we take pride in hoofing it with such a manic intensity that researchers often find us moving faster than crosstown buses, striking a pedestrian - or a biker - and driving away carries few consequences," notes Powell. 

"The State Department of Motor Vehicles recorded about 3,000 serious nonfatal accidents last year in New York City. The city Police Department's Accident Investigation Squad investigated only 63, or 2 percent of these nonfatal serious crashes, according to the state."  

Even as the city continues with one of the most ambitious pedestrian and bicycle safety campaigns in its history, "Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, characteristically, claims to see no problem. His department is state of the art; the streets get safer all the time; pedestrian fatalities have dropped 30 percent in the past decade."