A bit more than two years ago, on February 9, 2004, at 9th Street and 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn, two 5th graders on their way home from school were mowed down by a truck turning right and killed. The incident was treated as an accident and no charges were filed against the truck driver. I have heard that the truck driver was devastated by the accident. It is likely that a single additional mirror on the truck could have saved the lives of these children.

I remember when those children were killed. I was horrified since I have a child who walks the same streets where those two 5th graders were killed. I frequently see unsafe driving in Brooklyn and have had right turners nearly hit my family and myself more than once. However, sometimes it is hard to tell when such driving is due to an asshole driver (mirrors won’t help that!) or due to a driver who didn’t see us.

My Assemblywoman, Joan Millman introduced a bill, A09704, to the State Assembly to require trucks and tractors within NY City (it doesn’t apply to the rest of the state) to be equipped with convex mirrors that would allow truck drivers to see small children in the crosswalk when turning right. This bill has a fair amount of support, including from Mike Bloomberg. Joan pointed out that this was a rare instance of she and Bloomberg being on the same page about something. However the beer industry is opposing it because it would affect their distribution trucks. This industry has started a campaign to stop the bill, though Joan’s office has not sent me the details on the opposition efforts.

Joan Millman a few weeks ago discussed this bill at an Independent Neighborhood Democrats meeting and I offered to help publicize it and round up support. Here is Joan’s statement on the bill:

Assemblywoman Joan Millman is sponsoring legislation which would require large trucks to be equipped with a convex “cross-over

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