Sunnyside (between P.S. 150 and P.S. 11)
March 21, 2019 By Laura Hanrahan
The New York State Senate and Assembly passed a bill on Tuesday that will establish the use of speed cameras in 750 school zones across the five boroughs.
The legislation, which Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign into law in days, is an extension of a previously passed 2013 bill that authorized a five-year pilot program of 140 speed cameras in 20 school zones throughout the city. The 2013 bill expired last July after the then Republican-majority State Senate failed to pass a reauthorization that would have increased the camera total to 290.
The cameras were not out of use for very long, however, with Cuomo declaring the dangerous road conditions near schools to be a state of emergency in August. He issued an executive order to restart the use of the cameras.
The new legislation will cover 750 school zones across the city—which will include every public school zone citywide—that will be monitored by the speed cameras between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., Monday through Friday. The city will be required to install signs alerting motorists that a speed camera is in use—something the city says is a deterrent for speeding.
“The safety of children and students is one of our top priorities,” said State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. “We saw from New York City’s demonstration program that speed cameras in school zones dramatically decrease the number of infractions, preventing deadly accidents. I’m glad that this year we could work together with our Senate colleagues to pass legislation that will help save the lives of schoolchildren and other pedestrians.”
During the five-year pilot program, the Department of Transportation found a 60 percent drop in speeding infractions in school zones where the cameras had been installed.
“This is a huge victory for safe streets,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We applaud the Assembly and the Senate for helping us tackle avoidable tragedies on our streets by dramatically expanding our speed camera program. This is another key tool that we will use to aggressively pursue Vision Zero and to save lives across the city.”
Local organizations celebrated the passing of the bill on Tuesday, hailing the life-saving capabilities of the speed cameras.
“As we know all too well, speeding is a deadly act and has to stop,” said Amy Cohen, founding member of Families for Safe Streets. “We have an epidemic and speed safety cameras are a huge part of the cure. We’re grateful to Senator Goundardes and Assemblymember Glick for taking up this cause and being champions for safer streets.”
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14 Comments
Oh ok so it’s money now to extend the shift to 10 pm. Gimme a break! Hopefully they don’t skip putting the cameras in the Jewish neighborhood where the constantly on the phone and breaking the law!
And will they also clip the cicyclis who blast through everywhere doing everything illegal under the sun??
Have you ever driven faster than the speed limit or rolled through a stop sign?
Vision zero, speed cameras, red light cameras are indeed just a money grab and a way to appease the accident outraged masses.
Instead of enforcing 15-20mph and going after tint, speeding and parking violations only… the City and State should implement a. Real annual inspections (not just cut-corners emissions checklists but shocks/brakes/tires, lights, excessive leak checks) and fail 50% of the cars on the roads today. No registration renewal until fixed. b. mandatory vision, reaction time and driving tests for drivers above 65 c. License revocations for 80+ year olds.
None of these will go over well with the voters though, so instead we get zero-vision Vision zero.
Or maybe we just need to break NYC’s car culture filled with inconsiderate, shitty drivers who think the roads belong only to them.
Corey Johnson for mayor, TYVM.
Good. I hope they add more of them. Bottom line is that a high percentage of drivers still regularly speed. On 11th street, where I live, I see cars going 50-60 miles an hour at night. No enforcement. Time for that to change.
Nothing but more money grabbing attacks on the dwindling middle class. I’m not against speed cameras in school zones but why do they need to be enforced outside of school hours? Going 1 mph above in the middle of the night seems excessive.
This isn’t a money grab. All drivers need to do is something as simple as respecting the laws and not acting like the roads are only for them.
It’s a shame that public money needs to be spent on this because of bad, impatient drivers fill our streets unnecessarily with cars.
Bottom line is money. These
cameras are revenue and Albany needs it they’re going broke yesterday. and once again pilfering the middle class . remedy there are tech gadgets that actually protect your plate from these unlawful practices. Speeding is wrong but a better solution is to hire more crossing guards or retime Street lights
James – I live on Yellowstone Blvd in Forest Hills and they changed the timing of the lights – about 10 seconds after the walk light changes for people to cross, then the traffic light changes for cars to go through, but they don’t realize the time change. What happens is that they go through the red light or cars are road rage honking them to go. The solution is cars letting pedestrians cross the street, pedestrians to not cross against the light or in the middle of the street and for people to watch out for their own safety. How many babysitters do people need?
Sara, these people don’t care about facts or common sense. They just think that our streets exist for drivers to recklessly speed around without a thought to the other people using them.
Or drivers could simply obey the laws, which would provide zero revenue to Albany.
What makes you think it’s only drivers?
Are you stupid enough to think the speed cameras are to catch horse-drawn buggies?