Press Releases

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3, 2024
Contact: (212) 839-4850, press@dot.nyc.gov

NYC DOT Re-Launches Vision Zero Campaign 'Speeding Ruins Lives' at Yankee Stadium

To Commemorate the Re-Launch of 'Speeding Ruins Lives, Slow Down', NYC DOT Commissioner Rodriguez Joined the New York Yankees To Throw the First Pitch at Their Game Against the Cincinnati Reds on July 2

This $4 Million Campaign Targets Speeding, Dangerous Driving Behaviors With Ads in 13 Languages, Represents City’s Largest and Most Concentrated Public Education Investment in Vision Zero

N Y C D O T Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez throws the first pitch at a Yankees game

New York – New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez today announced the re-launch of 'Speeding Ruins Lives, Slow Down,' a $4 million multi-platform, multilingual Vision Zero campaign to curb reckless driving behaviors, like speeding, that have occurred at higher rates since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The re-launched Vision Zero campaign – including new partnerships with professional sports teams this summer and fall -- is designed to connect critical messaging to newer audiences, including harder-to-reach demographic groups -- among them, male drivers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), male drivers are 37 percent more likely than females to be behind the wheel in serious motor vehicle crashes. In addition to being featured at Yankee Stadium (for Yankees and NYCFC soccer games) and Citi Field (for Mets games), content will appear through a variety of media, radio and television ads, billboards, bus shelters, LinkNYC kiosks, and gas station pumps.

"Over the next few months, these important ads will allow New Yorkers to see for themselves the horrible aftermath of driving too fast," said NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. "This campaign is unprecedented in the extent of its outreach, directly reaching tens of thousands of sports fans, appearing in more communities, covering more community and ethnic media, and speaking to New Yorkers in 13 different languages. We thank the mayor for his support and leadership as we use all the tools in the toolbox to reduce traffic violence in New York City and the region."

The campaign will include newspaper and online digital ads, running in 13 different languages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Cantonese, English, Haitian Creole, French, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Urdu, Russian, Spanish.

NYC DOT is working to reduce traffic deaths holistically through Vision Zero education, enforcement, and street engineering. This campaign re-launches in conjunction with the passage of Sammy's Law, which requires NYC DOT to educate drivers on the dangers of speeding.

The Adams administration has worked to both expand the city's speed and red-light camera programs while delivering record numbers of new pedestrian space and protected bike lanes. The campaign is one piece of NYC DOT's $280 million Vision Zero expense budget for the next fiscal year and the agency's $4.7 billion 10-year capital plan for Vision Zero-related projects.

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