Brooklyn Safety BROOKLYN-USA.ORG
Speed camera expansion signals shift in street
safety for youngsters in Brooklyn and beyond
Before departing on a presidential
campaign swing through
Nevada, Mayor Bill de Blasio
took care of some city business Friday,
announcing plans for the rapid
expansion of the school zone speed
camera program, which Gov. Andrew
Cuomo signed into law earlier
this month.
The city’s Department of Transportation
will begin installing new
cameras citywide at a rate of 40 per
month through 2019, 60 per month
in 2020, expecting to reach the law’s
maximum 750 school zones by June
2020.
“Our streets are about to get a
lot safer for our children,” de Blasio
said. “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.”
Authorized by state law, the
school zone speed camera program
had been in place since 2014 with
data showing that speeding in areas
with cameras declines more than 60
percent, with more than 80 percent
of violators not receiving a second
ticket.
Speed cameras will now operate
year-round on all weekdays between
6 a.m. until 10 p.m. Previously,
cameras operated during the
school’s active hours. In the coming
months, the installations will be
made in the city’s most dangerous
areas where school kids are zoned
to cross.
“We’re going to be able to put
speed cameras at 750 schools, protect
our kids, protect their lives,
ensure they’re safe,” de Blasio said
on WNYC. “And that’s an expenditure
that will be added to this budget
that literally is about life and
death.”
The late Queens state Sen. Jose
Peralta carried the bill in the upper
chamber for years, but Republicans
blocked the legislation calling
it a cash grab and allowed the program
to expire altogether in July
2018, forcing de Blasio and Cuomo
to make a rare collaboration to reinstate
the program just before the
start of the school year.
“New York City has made so
much progress in reducing traffic
fatalities and so much of that progress
can be credited to the use of
speed cameras, but there are still
far too many areas in the city that
need measures to make streets safer
for pedestrians,” City Councilman
Donavan Richards, the chairman
6 ONE BROOKLYN | SUMMER 2019
Park Slope resident Amy Cohen advocated for the preservation and expansion of the city’s speed
camera program in memory of her son, 12-year-old Sammy Cohen Eckstein, who was hit and killed
by a speeding driver near his Prospect Park West home in 2013. Kevin P. Coughlin/State of New York
of the Committee on Public Safety,
said. “Every life lost is a tragedy,
which is why it was critical that Albany
renewed and expanded the program
to protect New Yorkers from
the next tragic accident. This rapid
expansion is the right approach to
slow down reckless drivers as soon
as possible.”
The legislation was co-sponsored
by state Sen. Andrew Gounardes (DBay
Ridge), who thanked the governor
for signing the bill and said
it amounted to a victory for street
safety advocates.
“No parent, senior, or pedestrian
of any age should live in fear of
crossing the street because of speeding
traffic,” Gounardes said. “Signing
this bill into law today will slow
traffic and saves lives.”
Borough President Eric L. Adams
said the legislation is vital, as it will
help save lives.
“I applaud the mayor’s move to
expedite their installation throughout
school zones, and will continue
working to ensure the safety of all
children. One traffic fatality is one
too many,” Adams said.
The Department of Transportation has begun installing new speed
cameras in the city’s most dangerous school zones. Michael Shain
The program will continue to
fine any motorist caught going
10 miles per hour over the speed
limit a $50 summons. The new
law also mandates signage that
alerts drivers when they are entering
a school zone speed camera
location.
/BROOKLYN-USA.ORG
