I was walking home from school in Brooklyn on a Friday in October when I was struck by a Jeep that jumped the sidewalk and pinned me against a brick wall. It
I was walking home from school in Brooklyn on a Friday in October when I was struck by a Jeep that jumped the sidewalk and pinned me against a brick wall. It was only through a combination of luck, the quick action of the good Samaritan who applied a tourniquet to my leg and the miracles of modern medicine, that I survived.
Still, this crash sentenced me to a lifetime of medical treatment. Instead of worrying about weekend plans with my friends, I spend my time at doctors’ appointments and barred from normal teenage experiences. Since then, I’ve learned that the Jeep had been trying to pass another vehicle when it was struck, causing it to lose control, leap onto the sidewalk and hit me. Even though the driver of the Jeep was underinsured, New York’s current law allows my family to seek a recovery from the other vehicle’s insurance company, beyond the policy limits of the Jeep’s insurance, through an insurance law called joint and several liability coverage.If Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed revisions to auto insurance laws pass, then I will be left struggling to cover the lifelong medical care my injuries require. The governor claims her proposals are an important part of her affordability agenda to lower the cost of living for New Yorkers.Getting rid of joint and several liability provisions may save insurance companies money, but they are a financial death sentence for the victims of the traffic violence that plagues New York streets every day. A series of other provisions in the Hochul’s proposal would similarly punish victims, while allowing insurance companies to avoid paying their fair share for injuries victims did nothing to cause. One of these proposals would eliminate protections for victims who can’t work due to their injuries by changing the definition of what a serious injury is. Right now, if a crash keeps you out of work for 90 days out of 180 days, that’s a serious injury. Hochul’s plan wipes that out. That shifts the cost of injuries away from negligent drivers and their insurers and dumps it on families like mine, Medicaid and taxpayers. Another proposal shifts blame onto victims by creating a new category called “modified comparative negligence,” which encourages insurance companies to litigate, delay and nickel-and-dime victims, as a way to walk away from responsibility. The current system of pure comparative negligence is much more efficient — everyone pays their fair share, cases settle, and court dockets get cleared. The governor keeps repeating what insurance companies are saying, that staged car crashes and fraud are the reason premiums are going up. But the facts tell a different story. Insurance companies are making more money than ever. A study released last month by the Center for Justice & Democracy shows that New York’s largest auto insurers are making record profits, even while premiums increase. And when it comes to staged crashes — that is already illegal. Enforce those laws. Don’t use them as an excuse to take rights away from people. During the COVID pandemic, traffic crashes in New York went down by more than 12%. But insurance premiums still went up. By 2023 they were more than 25% higher than before the pandemic.That’s why so many street safety groups are speaking out. Because this plan doesn’t protect people like me. It protects insurance companies.Mamdani appeals CityFHEPS lawsuit, breaking campaign promise to drop suit and expand rental assistance to thousands Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning Presents Memory Vault – the Culminating Exhibition of JCAL’S 2026 ARTWorks FellowshipNYU STRIKE SUSPENDED: Union and school reach tentative agreement; members still need to vote More bike lanes coming to Lower Manhattan as DOT expands street space ahead of this summer’s World CupSt. John’s vs. Duke Sweet 16: What to know about Red Storm’s upcoming NCAA Tournament matchup Pigeon petition: Thousands of advocates want NYC’s giant pigeon statue to stay perched at the High LineNew Yorkers ask ‘What are ICE agents doing?’ at airports as elected officials demand removalconstruction
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