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BRONX TIMES REPORTER,10 SEPT. 24-30, 2021 BTR
NYC lawmakers hope to
expand speed cameras
State lawmakers are looking to expand speed cameras in school zones to allow for 24/7
monitoring. Current law only allows for cameras to operate between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.,
Monday through Friday. Photo Pablo D. Castillo Jr.
BY ALIYA SCHNEIDER
Those who have found a photo of
their car and a $50 ticket greeting
them in the mail may be not be thrilled
to hear about a bill that would allow
NYC school-zone speed cameras to operate
24/7. But safe streets advocates
point to horrendous accidents as reason
enough to crack down on reckless
drivers.
In New York City, speed cameras are
only allowed in designated school zones,
which encapsulate a quarter-mile radius
of school buildings. The current state law
— an expansion of a school-zone program
implemented in 2013 and expanded in 2019
— allowing the cameras is set to expire in
2022. But some state lawmakers are looking
to extend it to 2025, and make the program
even more robust.
Currently, the cameras only capture
vehicles going 10 mph over the speed limit
from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through
Friday. The violations carry $50 fees and
drivers could collect them like coins and
wouldn’t have a mark on their record.
But that may soon change, and The
New York City Department of Transportation
(DOT) is a proponent of further enhancements
to the law.
“There must be consequences for dangerous
drivers, no matter what time of the
week they break the law,” DOT Commissioner
Hank Gutman said in an Aug. 30
statement, supporting 24/7 capabilities for
the cameras. “Speed cameras are an efficient,
equitable way to reduce speeding,
and we must do everything in our power
to stop violence on our streets before it happens.”
Gutman’s remarks followed a tragic
weekend, when two high-speed fatal
crashes took place in school zones overnight,
when city DOT couldn’t legally operate
the cameras during the accidents. One
crash occurred 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, Aug.
28, along Fordham Road, and the other was
at 4 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29, in Bed-Stuy.
Just over a week later, on Sept. 7, another
fatal accident took place in the
Bronx, at the intersection of Johnson Avenue
and Kappock Street, killing a wellknown
activist and writer from Riverdale,
Ruth Mullen. Mullen was struck by an
MTA bus.
That intersection was outside of a
school zone — where speed cameras are
not permitted — but the incident adds to
the rising list of life-threatening traffic incidents.
As of Sept. 5, there have been 176
traffic fatalities in the city over the past
two years, a nearly 25% increase from a
year ago. In 2020, one-third of fatal crashes
in New York City happened in school speed
zones during overnight and weekend
hours, according to DOT data.
Two bills introduced in the state Legislature
in March — both currently in committee
— would amend the law to allow
school-zone speed cameras to operate 24/7.
State Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, a
Democrat who represents District 81 in the
Bronx and is a co-sponsor of the Assembly
bill, told the Bronx Times he doesn’t see
how anyone could object to the cameras being
on all the time.
“The cameras are there,” Dinowitz
said. “To me it doesn’t make sense for them
to be off. We all should strive to be as careful
as we can. I’m not perfect. Nobody’s perfect.
But we should really make a strong effort
to drive carefully, and within the speed
limit, all the time. Once the clock strikes 10
at night, that shouldn’t be a signal for you
to start speeding.”
Sponsored by state Sen. Andrew
Gounardes, a Brooklyn Democrat, and
state Assemblywoman Deborah Glick,
a Manhattan Democrat, the bills create
more of a record for repeat offenders.
The fi nes would also increase.
The fi rst two violations within two
years would cost $50 per fi ne; the third
violation would be for $100; the fourth
would cost $200; the fi fth offense would
have a price-tag of $300; and the sixth
and any subsequent violations would
trigger $500 fi nes for each additional
violation.
According to DOT, the difference of
just 5 additional mph — 25-30 mph —
makes a pedestrian twice as likely to
be killed when struck by a vehicle.
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