Mayor announces more speed cameras
Cuomo signs stronger law for life-saving speed camera program, which takes effect July 11
BY BILL PARRY
Before departing on a
presidential campaign swing
through Nevada, Mayor Bill
de Blasio took care of some
city business on May 24,
announcing plans for the
rapid expansion of the school
zone speed camera program
which Governor 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
The Department of Transportation has begun installing new speed cameras in the city’s most
dangerous school zones, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio. File
60 percent, with over 80% 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 like Northern
Boulevard, where 12,000 school
kids are zoned to cross.
Northern Boulevard is now
known as the “New Boulevard
of Death” after 6 young
children have been killed
since 2013. Overall, NYPD
collision data shows 18 people
have been killed on Northern
Boulevard in the last 5 years,
including 16 pedestrians and
404 pedestrians and cyclists
have been injured.
“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 state Senator 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. Mayor Bill de Blasio
and Cuomo made 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 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 program will continue
to fine any motorist caught
going 10 miles per hour over
the speed limit receiving a
$50 summons. The new law
also mandates signage that
alerts drivers when they are
entering a school zone speed
camera location.
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by email at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4538.
Woman ‘acting erratically’ shot & tased by cops
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
Police officers shot a
woman who threw a bottle at
them, then charged at the cops
with a knife near a Queens
Village car wash last weekend,
law enforcement sources said.
The woman — identified
by police as Lydia Spicer,
49, of 212th Street in
Queens Village — remains
hospitalized at a local hospital
in stable condition as the
investigation into the policeinvolved
shooting continues,
according to Chief of Patrol
Rodney Harrison.
According to law
enforcement sources, the
trouble began at around 10
p.m. on May 24, when two
uniformed members of the
105th Precinct spotted Spicer
“acting erratically” in front
of the USA Car Wash at the
corner of Jamaica Avenue and
212th Street.
Harrison said the officers
pulled their marked cruiser
into the car wash driveway,
and as they exited the vehicle,
Spicer allegedly threw a glass
bottle at them. The officers
then spotted her holding a
knife in her hand.
“Both officers repeatedly
ordered the suspect to drop
the knife, at which time she
advanced towards them with
the knife still in her hand,”
Harrison stated. “One of
the officers fired one round
striking the suspect in the
lower abdomen before she fled
the scene.”
Moments later, authorities
noted, two additional 105th
Precinct officers spotted the
wounded Spicer a block away
from the car wash. They
approached her and saw that
she was still in possession of
a knife.
Harrison said one of the
officers then used their Taser
weapon, striking Spicer and
immobilizing her while the
other officer placed her in
custody. Police recovered the
woman’s knife at the scene.
No officers were injured.
The knife allegedly held by an emotionally disturbed woman who was shot by police at a Queens Village
car wash on May 24. Photo via Google Maps/Inset courtesy of NYPD
The woman’s injuries are
not considered to be lifethreatening,
according to NBC
New York.
Spicer was later charged
with two counts of menacing,
two counts of menacing a
police officer, and a single
count of criminal possession
of a weapon.
Reach reporter Robert
Pozarycki by email at
rpozarycki@qns.com or by
phone at (718) 224-5863 ext. 204.
TIMESLEDGER,4 MAY 31-JUNE 6, 2019 QNS.COM
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