Drive Like Your Family Lives Here

TLC, FAMILIES FOR SAFE STREETS PRESENT
A VISION ZERO SAFETY VIDEO
“Drive Like Your Family Lives Here”
The stories of five families devastated by traffic tragedy

The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), in partnership with Families For Safe Streets, the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) and the New York City Police Department (NYPD), today presented the Vision Zero-inspired 15-minute video feature, “Drive Like Your Family Lives Here.” Among other future uses to come, the video will be integrated into driver training programs for prospective taxi and For-Hire Vehicle drivers, as well as fleet training programs at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS). The video may also be viewed through the TLC’s web site at www.nyc.gov/taxi starting March 31.

The video offers a frank and often emotional glimpse through the eyes of members of five featured families who have lost loved ones to traffic-related tragedies in recent years. These five families were among those attending the launch event, held at the Crosby Street Hotel in Lower Manhattan. The TLC produced the video as part of its ongoing mandate to help bring about an end to traffic fatalities, the principal goal of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero action plan. The TLC is one of three lead agencies tasked with implementing Vision Zero, alongside the NYPD and DOT.

The Video may be viewed tonight at: http://youtu.be/OAnSw3nzj0U

“Drive like your family lives here: that’s our message. These are all our children, our parents, our brothers and our sisters. These tragedies could be any of ours. We have each other’s lives in our hands. Above all things, Vision Zero is about all of us taking collective responsibility for making our streets safer,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Said TLC Commissioner and Chair Meera Joshi, “I am deeply inspired by the courage these families exhibit on a daily basis. The fact that they have dedicated themselves to sharing their very personal pain as they have to help prevent others from experiencing such profound loss goes beyond mere generosity. I believe this video will leave an indelible mark in the minds of all who see it, and that they will come away with a renewed understanding of the awesome responsibility a driver has to everyone around them. I am also grateful to our partners in the advocacy and government communities. There’s no way we could have done this without their expertise and their enthusiasm.”

“I have been deeply impressed with Families for Safe Streets’s success persuading our legislators in Albany and our leaders in New York City about the urgency of Vision Zero. I anticipate that their personal experiences will have an even more powerful effect on TLC’s more than 100,000 drivers,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “This video will play an important role in training taxi drivers on the tragic consequences of reckless driving. We will continue to work closely with the advocacy community as we move forward with Vision Zero goals for education and awareness.”

“The NYPD is dedicated to protecting New Yorkers and using all available resources to prevent fatal collisions and the needless loss of life. Through collaboration on multiple levels, we are working to enforce the law and let New Yorkers know that their choices matter. Together we can all make decisions that will save lives and keep the city safe,” said Police Commissioner William J. Bratton.

Said Amy Tam-Liao, of Families for Safe Streets, “It is our hope that our story, along with the others, will serve as another powerful tool in our effort toward Vision Zero, because no family should needlessly suffer as ours has. As painful as it was to retell our story, the medium of video may connect with people in a way where words by themselves may sometimes not be enough.”

Said Lizi Rahman, of Families for Safe Streets, “I hope that the video will tell drivers a person killed by a vehicle is not merely a name or number. There is a person behind the name, and there is a family behind that person, and there is a community of family and friends behind that person. That person had dreams, hopes, and plans for the coming weeks, months and years just like all of us, which were crushed by a reckless driver.

“This film will have an impact on some drivers, if not all. They will think twice before driving carelessly or recklessly. We only pay attention to something when we associate our own family to the situation. Thinking that my careless driving could kill my own family would certainly slow me down.”

About the NYC TLC:
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) was created in 1971, and is the agency responsible for the regulation and licensing of over 200,000 yellow medallion taxicabs and for-hire vehicles, their drivers, and the businesses that operate and support their industries. It is recognized as the largest and most active taxi and limousine regulatory body in the United States.

To find out more about the TLC, or to review its rules and procedures, we encourage you to visit our official Web site at WWW.NYC.GOV/TAXI or contact 311/311 Online.

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