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Thousands of NYC speedsters, red-light runners skirt driver safety course

Thousands of reckless city drivers who repeatedly run red lights and speed have been able to skirt road safety courses, leaving them still dangerously roaming the streets, The Post has learned.

While 16,000 bad drivers have been caught repeatedly flouting city traffic laws on camera, barely 1,000 of them have been notified as per a 2020 city law that they need to take a mandated safety course or have their vehicles seized, records show.

And of 1,000 scofflaws who have been notified they’re in officials’ crosshairs, only 630 have actually completed the safety course.

Meanwhile, the rest — 370 drivers — are supposed to have their vehicles seized by local sheriffs until they complete the training.

Yet only a measly 12 have had their cars taken.

“The glaring discrepancy between the number of people who failed to take the course, the number of warrants issued, and the number of vehicles ultimately impounded significantly weakens the [Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program]’s enforcement mechanisms — which lets reckless drivers off the hook,’’ city Comptroller Brad Lander wrote last week to the city Department of Transportation in a letter obtained by The Post.

Yellow New York traffic light on red, with black and white background
The program impacts drivers with at least five red-light camera tickets in 12 months. Getty Images/iStockphoto

The DVAP, signed into law by ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio, targets drivers with five or more red-light violations or 15 or more speed-camera tickets in a 12-month period. 

About 5,000 drivers qualified to participate in the program right off the bat when the bill became law. That number then grew significantly in the past few years, as enforcement cameras have been added to hundreds of new locations, according to the letter.

The DOT “is clearly facing implementation challenges due to staff capacity constraints,” Lander wrote.

Lander, as a council member, pushed for the legislation after a driver killed several people in his Park Slope, Brooklyn, district in 2018.

“As the prime sponsor of the bill, I felt confident that a 5,000 vehicle sample size would enable us to implement the pilot, study its impact, and make recommendations to expand and improve the program,” Lander wrote.

brad lander smiles in a suit
Comptroller Brad Lander, as a city councilman, helped pass legislation that created the program.

“However, at DOT’s current pace of implementation, the pilot will not cover 5,000 vehicles by the time the program expires in 2023. The smaller the sample size, the less we learn about how driver safety courses and the threat of vehicle impoundment can meaningfully improve safety outcomes, change driver behavior, and reduce recidivism.”

The city Sheriff’s Office has only issued 115 warrants for vehicle seizures because the DOT has to prepare each case individually before a hearing with the city Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings can be scheduled, which itself takes up to nine months, according to information shared with the comptroller’s office.

Many drivers simply get new vehicles or license plates during that period, the letter said.

A rep for the DOT told The Post on Sunday that the number of people who have gone through the program so far are enough to evaluate its effectiveness.

“After building this pilot program from scratch in the middle of a pandemic, DOT has engaged over 1,000 vehicle owners, with hundreds so far taking a class to more safely share the road,” agency spokesman Vin Barone said in a statement.

“We are successfully developing a proof of concept and will continue to evaluate the program during its pilot stage, working closely with our sister agencies to identify best practices and potential areas for improving the program.”