Just two days after New York Mayor Bill de Blasio laid out a sweeping traffic safety plan that included harsh restrictions on reckless drivers, his official vehicles were spotted breaking several traffic laws on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Although he remained committed to reducing speed limits and cutting down on traffic deaths in the city, a local television news crew captured his convoy speeding and ignoring stop signs.
According to Reuters, the driving incident comes after the new mayor rolled out an extensive, 63-point "Vision Zero" plan this week to tackle traffic deaths.
Increasing the number of speed-tracking cameras and reducing many city speed limits to 25 miles per hour from 30 miles per hour are included in his proposals.
"Our lives are literally in each other's hands," de Blasio said in outlining the plan on Tuesday on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where three pedestrians were killed last month.
As the mayor sat in the passenger seat of the lead car, a crew from WCBS-TV filmed de Blasio's caravan driving up to 15 miles per hour above the speed limit and blasting past two stop signs.
The convoy was driving through Queens after de Blasio attended an event to speak about road safety and pothole repairs, WCBS-TV said.
The mayor's office would not confirm that the caravan was flouting traffic laws but said he "remained committed to the traffic safety policies outlined this week."
The New York Police Department was referred by de Blasio's office for further questions, Reuters reported.
The police issued a statement saying officers in charge of the mayor's transportation "receive specialized training in driving, based on maintaining security as well as safety."
"The handling of police vehicles transporting any protectee is determined solely by police personnel based on their specialized training in executive protection and professional judgment," it said.
