On July 11th, reach and impact of speed cameras will double, as hours and days of operation expand; DOT will install hundreds of new cameras at an unprecedented pace, and a public awareness campaign will warn drivers to stop speeding
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that with the Governor’s signature of a new state law earlier this month, New York City was making extensive preparations for the dramatic expansion of its school-zone speed camera program. When the new law takes effect on Thursday, July 11, the cameras’ total hours and days of operation will double – including by for the first time protecting children and senior pedestrians on summer weekdays and evenings. The Mayor today helped oversee Department of Transportation (DOT) staff as they installed a new speed camera along West End Avenue near PS 199 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Under the limitations of the previous speed camera law, this location was not permitted to have a speed camera.
“Our streets are about to get a lot safer for our children. We fought to expand our speed camera program and we won in Albany. Now it’s time to rapidly scale up our program to save lives and keep our kids safe,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“The safety of our students and families is our top priority, and I thank the Mayor for his leadership in dramatically expanding the number of speed cameras near our schools. Speed cameras protect our 1.1 million school children, each and every day, and they quite literally save lives,” said Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza.
“We are grateful to the leadership of the Mayor, the Governor and the legislature, which has allowed us to be able to deploy life-saving speed cameras,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “With this law change, we will on July 11th double the number of hours cameras are operable - and in the months ahead, we will install new cameras at an unprecedented rate. We are hopeful that we can continue to make progress on Vision Zero, where we have seen fatalities decline in New York City for five years running.”
The Mayor announced that over the next two years, DOT would rapidly substantially scale up its speed-camera program, installing new cameras Citywide at a rate of about 40 per month through 2019, and 60 per month in 2020, expecting to reach each of the law’s maximum 750 school zones by June, 2020 (zones can have multiple cameras). He also announced that a public education campaign would alert New York City drivers of these major changes to the law.
A Stronger Speed Camera Law: Authorized by state law, school-zone speed cameras have been in operation in New York City since 2014, with data showing that speeding in zones with a camera declines by more than 60 percent, with over 80 percent of violators not receiving a second ticket. The new speed-camera law, sponsored by Assembly Member Deborah Glick and State Senator Andrew Gounardes, was passed by the state legislature in March and was signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo on May 12th. The new law takes effect on July 11th, expanding the maximum number of school zones from 140 to 750. The new law now sunsets in June of 2022 and requires annual progress reports to the legislature. Other major changes to the law include:
Doubling Speed Camera Hours: Speed cameras will now operate year-round on all weekdays between 6am until 10pm, including summer and school vacations. Previously, cameras’ hours were variable, and they could only operate during a given school’s active hours. DOT estimates that the law’s expansion will on its first day double the overall number of hours when speed cameras can issue summonses.
Extending Camera Zones: Cameras’ maximum distance from schools was expanded to a ¼ mile radius from a school, rather than the previous restriction that the camera be no more than a ¼ mile of a school along an abutting street. This change to the law allows cameras to be installed near hundreds more schools, including today along West End Avenue. In coming months, new cameras will be installed on other high-crash corridors across the five boroughs, including along 1st Avenue in Manhattan, Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, Hylan Boulevard on Staten Island, Northern Boulevard in Queens and Grand Concourse in the Bronx.
Fines for speed-camera violations remain unchanged at $50, issued to those who exceed posted speed limits by more than 10 MPH. The notices of liability are issued by DOT via mail to the registrant of the vehicle – and are adjudicated at the New York City Department of Finance.
Speed Camera Expansion Public Education Campaign: As part of a new campaign, DOT will inform drivers of the dramatic changes to the speed camera law. The campaign will include bulk mailings, newspaper notices, online ads, and LinkNYC displays. Drive-time radio spots will air during traffic reports. Starting the week of June 9th, DOT will begin a 30-day countdown on social media. DOT will distribute an electronic communications kit with flyers, postcards, and other shareable content, modeled after a 2014 campaign when the Citywide speed limit was lowered to 25 MPH, to help build wider awareness about the new law.
Future Actions: The Mayor is also pushing reforms in Albany that will escalate fines and suspend the vehicle registrations of repeat speeding and red-light running offenders, and require physicians to notify the DMV following medical events that could cause drivers to lose control of their vehicle.
Editor'S Note:
This mayor still refuses to believe that Russian influence led to the Speed Camera Law.
NYCDOT did not survey the street in front of P.S. 81 where it was believed that over ninety percent of the drivers were traveling over the then speed limit of 30 MPH.
The NYCDOT surveyed a street several blocks away from P.S. 81, a street that was on a downhill slope leading to the southbound entrance to the Henry Hudson Parkway into to Manhattan. That street just happen to have an exit from the Russian Mission which drivers took to get to the parkway south to the United Nations in Manhattan.
