Councilman Justin Brannan — a speaker wannabe who has demanded New York drivers “slow the f–k down” — is a lead-footed motorist whose car has been captured by speed cameras speeding in school zones 16 times, including on six occasions in the last five months, The Post has learned.
Despite wagging his finger at speed demons, Brannan (D- Bay Ridge), has amassed 60 driving and parking violations since 2013 with his dark grey Ford SUV, public records show. Brannan has been a vocal supporter of school zone speed camera legislation — and has ripped scofflaws who drive at excessive speeds in his southern Brooklyn district.
“Driver speeding near 101st & 4th Ave struck man walking in crosswalk with his dog,” Brannan said in a March 2020 tweet, after school zone speed cameras caught him driving 10 or more miles per hour above the speed limit three times in the previous four months.
“People really need to slow the f–k down!!!!!”
Asked for comment, the lawmaker said that there’s “no excuse” for his speedy driving, and vowed to decrease his speeds.
“Although I was driving much more than normal during the pandemic, there’s no excuse and I take full responsibility,” Brannan said in an emailed statement.
“All of us who use cars need to slow down, be more aware, and do better to keep our streets safe,” he added. “I continue to support expanding cameras in school zones, and will take this opportunity to improve my own behavior when I’m behind the wheel.”
Brannan — whose vehicle The Post observed Thursday parked illegally with a city-issued placard in Brooklyn near the location of Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ wedding Thursday — has a lot to improve.
Since 2015, school zone speed cameras have caught his car motoring more than 10 miles per hour above the speed limit 16 times, according to publicly available city records.
Each time, Brannan was assessed the standard $50 fine for his speedy driving adjacent to schools.
Six of the school zone speed camera violations were racked up since March 23, and the driver of his car was caught lead-footed speeding near schools 12 times since the beginning of 2020. He or the driver of his Ford has sped in each of the five boroughs — 12 times in Brooklyn, one time in Manhattan, as well as once in the Bronx and once in Queens, records show.
Many of his Brooklyn school zone speed camera violations were incurred in Bay Ridge, where he lives. From October 2015 to January 2017, Brannan’s vehicle three different times raced past the same school zone, on 83rd Street and Shore Road, which is a block away from Fort Hamilton High School, city records show.
Additionally, Brannan’s Ford SUV, which is registered only to him, was caught by speed cameras three times on the block at Edward B. Shallow, a junior high school in Bensonhurst.
Brannan has repeatedly urged New York’s drivers to pump the brakes, even as he himself failed to do so.
“This is why we must take aggressive and reckless “Fast & Furious” driving seriously. This was a horrible and completely avoidable tragedy,” Brannan said in a July 2020 tweet after three people were killed in a car crash in Brooklyn.
“There were 17 car crashes in my district on Monday. SLOW. THE. F. DOWN,” the high-speed hypocrite tweeted in January 2019.
Brannan was elected in 2017. He is expected to be a candidate for speaker in 2022, Brannan has said.
Outside Williams’ celebration Thursday evening in Williamsburg, Brannan’s Ford SUV was parked illegally while displaying a parking placard — despite two years ago saying he was “p—d” about a member of his staff misusing his placard.
“I’m p—d,” Brannan told The Post in July 2019, when he learned that staff member Jonathan Yedin illegally displayed a placard in the dashboard of his Mazda, which was parked in lower Manhattan.
“I have been vocal about placard abuse, so it is embarrassing to learn a member of my staff used a placard he should not have,” he added at the time. Brannan couldn’t immediately be reached for comment about his placard abuse.
After Yedin, 35, in 2019 tried to excuse his placard abuse by claiming, “Other people use my car.”
“I don’t care who this placard belonged to, I will not tolerate this,” Brannan previously told The Post. “What happened here was wrong, and it will not happen again.
Brannan — who represents Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach, and parts of Bensonhurst — is not the only Brooklyn councilman to park and drive illegally.
Councilman Brad Lander of Park Slope blew past school zones at high speeds eight times in recent years, The Post reported in April. A red-faced Lander, who earlier this month became the Democratic nominee for city comptroller, subsequently promised to slow down and use his Prius less.
Additional reporting by Jason Beeferman.
