The city and the MTA bus-drivers union reached a settlement on Monday clarifying that drivers can’t be arrested solely for running someone over.
Under the settlement, which was signed off on by Brooklyn federal Judge Brian Cogan, the year-old Right of Way law can’t be used just because a driver hits a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
It can be used only if there is additional evidence that the driver failed to exercise “due care,” for instance by checking a cellphone while driving or speeding through a turn.
Union officials, who filed suit against the city in April, say they are relieved that careful bus drivers will no longer automatically be cuffed at the scene just because they hit someone with a bus.
“Our gripe is satisfied,” said John Samuelsen, the president of the Transport Workers Union, which represents MTA workers.
The settlement weakens Mayor de Blasio’s Right of Way law, enacted last September as a major part of his Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic deaths in the city.