140 Speed Cameras Installed Throughout NYC in Effort to Reduce Auto Accidents
September marked the completion of an important milestone in Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero campaign: the installation of 140 speed cameras (100 fixed and 40 mobile) in school zone locations throughout New York City. The completion was timed to coincide with the start of the school year, and incorporates the maximum number of speed cameras that the State of New York allows.
This initiative has been instituted in tandem with a mandate throughout NYC lowering the speed limit to 25 MPH – the expectation being that a slower, photo-enforced speed limit will compel drivers to lower their speed, thereby making school zones (and New York City streets in general) safer for pedestrians and for other motorists.
The initiative seems to beworking. Since the first speed cameras were installed throughout the city nearly two years ago, almost a million speed camera violations have been issued – but the daily average of violations has steadily been decreasing (by up to 60 percent at last count), which means that, over time, New York drivers have learned to slow down and heed the signs.
There’s no doubt that speed kills; according to the NYC DOT, almost a third of traffic fatalities are due to speeding drivers. But the ripple effect of speed camera implementation extends beyond simply reducing the risk of auto accidents caused by speeding. Drivers who are forced to pay more attention to their speed are likely to pay more attention to their driving in general, which could lead to a decrease in motor vehicle accidents based on distracted driving or poor judgment (dangerous left turns into oncoming traffic, for example).
While results are certainly encouraging, proponents of the speed camera initiative insist that even more can be done to safeguard the citizens of NYC from dangerous driving and potentially deadly auto accidents. The school zone speed cameras only operate during weekdays, starting an hour before school begins and ending an hour after classes finish (as well as half an hour before and after school activities). Yet according to the DOT, the vast majority of fatal auto accidents throughout New York occur in the evening or on the weekend, when the cameras are not in operation. Plus, the 140-camera limit instituted by the state means that over 2,000 school zones in Manhattan, the Bronx, and other NYC boroughs are still unprotected by fixed or mobile speed cameras at present.
Speed camera advocates are confident that this initiative will continue to demonstrate life-saving results for pedestrians and drivers here in New York – and that even critics will soon be convinced to support and expand speed-camera related measures. Because ultimately, everyone is in favor of safer streets here in NYC.
“While these efforts are laudable,” Jay Dankner, senior partner at the top New York auto accident law firm of Dankner Milstein, P.C. said, “even more needs to be done. We unfortunately continue to see far too many situations involving people who are seriously injured by speeding drivers going above the newly passed NYC speed limit. We continue to fight hard for them to get them the compensation they deserve.”
If you think you have been the victim of motor vehicle driver negligence, you should contact one of our Midtown Manhattan lawyers at Dankner Milstein for a free consultation at 212-751-8000 or office@dmesq.com.
Our firm has recovered more than $500 million for clients we’ve represented and has obtained more than two hundred (200) verdicts and settlements of one million dollars or higher.
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