July Club Meeting - Cycling and the Law 102

Cycling and the Law 102 - a presentation by Steve Vaccaro

No one wants to be stopped by the police and certainly we all dread getting into a crash with a motor vehicle. However, we need to know what to do to protect ourselves and our friends, should either of these unfortunate events happen.  Everyone in this club knows you're supposed to ride with traffic and put lights on at night, that's Cycling Law 101. This presentation on Cycling and the Law 102 is going to provide state-of-the-art, advanced legal advice in five areas of cycling law as listed below:

• Traffic stops by police
• Motor vehicle crashes
• Intentional strikes and hit and run crashes
• the cyclist as a defendant in litigation
• cycling infrastructure and advocacy

Please join at on July 12th at Connolly's to hear and learn from Steve Vaccaro, a highly respected attorney, prominent cycling advocate (and NYCC member), who specializes in representing cyclists and pedestrians who are involved in crashes with motor vehicles. The information that will be discussed at this meeting is very important for you to know as a well-informed cyclist and member of NYCC.

We hope to see you there.

Steve Vaccaro began cycling in New York City as a high school sophomore.  Over the years he has come to prominence as a leading lawyer and advocate for cyclists and pedestrians in New York City.   After a decade representing defendants at a large corporate law firm, he began representing pedestrians and cyclists injured in collisions with motorists, pedestrians, or due to dangerous road conditions.  Just this year, Steve merged his practice with Adam White's.  Adam is here to tonight, has represented cyclists for fifteen years and is known to many of you.  Their firm, the Law Office of Vaccaro & White, represents fifty or more cyclists at any given time and is the largest specialty practice of its kind in New York.  They tell me that their goal is to deliver the best possible results according to their client's definition of success, while pressing the boundaries of the law for the benefit of all crash victims.  But perhaps the thing Steve is most proud of, in all those years of cycling in the city, is  that he's never gotten a traffic ticket that stuck!

 

After representing cyclists injured in crashes for years, Steve had his first serious crash as an adult last October.  When I heard about it, I knew that however unfortunate for Steve, that going through the process as a crash victim himself would give him unique insight into the challenges we cyclists face after a crash.  That's one of the reasons I invited Steve to speak tonight, and asked him to share some of those insights.

 

When he's not busy representing his clients or out riding, Steve has somehow managed to invest many of hours volunteer time into advocating for cyclists rights.  As a volunteer for Transportation Alternatives, he was the moving force behind extending the First and Second Avenue bicycle and bus lanes up to 125th Street.  His work was instrumental in pushing NYPD to do a better job of investigating the role of motorists in causing crashes.  Steve has worked closely with the leadership of our club, Ellen Jaffe, Alan Resnick, and Carol Waaser to help moderate the traffic law enforcement in Central Park and get more room on the loop for cyclists, and with Neile Weissman to address arbitrary ticketing by the Fort Lee Police on Hudson Terrace.  

 

Most recently, he's joined with other cycling advocates to form StreetsPAC, a political action committee that represents cyclists' interests in elections.  I hope everybody here who's registered as a member of a political party, has voted.  Something that cyclists have learned over the last few years is that when people are angry about cyclists, it’s a good thing to have friends in high places.  Our interests are well-represented by the club and Transportation Alternatives.  But these organizations are non-profits that are not permitted to participate in the electoral process.  As a StreetsPAC board member, Steve interviewed over thirty candidates for elective office concerning their views on issues of importance to cyclists, and managed a field operation to engage thousands of cyclists in the electoral process though voter registration and get out the vote work.  He'll share some of that experience tonight--in a non-partisan way, of course!

Raffle Prizes for July Club Meeting, sponsored by Light and Motion