The Driver Accountability Program is an innovative response to driving-related offenses that seeks to improve traffic safety and increase accountability among dangerous drivers.
Every year, dangerous drivers kill more than 35,000 people in avoidable car crashes across the United States, but the criminal justice system’s standard response—tickets and arrests leading to fines and fees or, on rare occasions, short jail sentences—hasn’t curbed risky driving behavior.
The Driver Accountability Program provides a restorative alternative to fines and fees for those who have committed criminal driving offenses. A trained facilitator uses exercises and discussion to raise participants’ awareness of the harms of dangerous driving behaviors and to identify strategies to improve their driving.
Launched as a pilot in 2015 at our Red Hook Community Justice Center, the program was created in partnership with the New York City Police Department, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, City Council Member Brad Lander, and Families for Safe Streets. In 2019, New York City’s Council provided funding to expand use of the Driver Accountability Program to criminal courts in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island, and Manhattan, allowing us to reach 2,500 or more people annually. By providing alternatives to business as usual, our Driver Accountability Program is improving safety while reducing the negative impacts of the justice system.
The course impacted the way I think and the way I view driving. I realized how often I didn’t think of the more serious consequences of driving, and I will try to be more careful in the future because I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
How the Driver Accountability Program Makes NYC Streets Safer
An innovative response to driving offenses reduces recidivism while cutting back on the harms of the justice system, according to our new impact evaluation.
