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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 216-13
June 22, 2013

STATEMENTS OF MAYOR BLOOMBERG AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSIONER SADIK-KHAN ON PASSAGE OF SPEED CAMERA LEGISLATION

Bill Passed by State Legislature Allows Cameras at 20 Locations Near Schools with Documented Speeding Issues

Speeding is Single Greatest Contributing Factor in City Traffic Fatalities

Statement of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg:

Over the past decade, traffic fatalities in New York City have fallen by more than 30 percent, reaching all-time record lows. The tremendous progress in making our streets safer for New Yorkers is due to a commitment to innovative traffic engineering from our Department of Transportation and aggressive enforcement by the NYPD. But speeding remains the single greatest contributing factor in traffic fatalities in New York City, and we have long advocated in Albany for the authority to install speed cameras to help save lives. If a driver strikes a child at 40 miles per hour, there is a 70 percent chance the child will be killed. At 30 miles per hour, there is an 80 percent chance the child survives. Decreasing the number of drivers who speed is a proven life-saving measure – and this legislation, which will place speed cameras at 20 key locations throughout our city, will ensure that we continue to protect some of our most vulnerable New Yorkers. We are grateful that the New York State Senate and Assembly heeded our call and adopted this important legislation this session. Particularly, I want to thank members of the New York City delegation in both houses of both parties, especially Senate Majority Coalition Leader Jeff Klein and Assemblywoman Deborah Glick for their leadership in sponsoring this bill and pushing for its enactment.

Statement of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan:

“The Legislature has clearly stated that the streets around our schools should be safe havens, not speed traps. Speed cameras will help put a freeze frame on the number-one killer on our city’s roads. Thanks to the bill’s sponsors Sen. Klein and Assembly Member Glick for helping put this critical roadblock in front of dangerous driving.”

New York City has recorded historic low traffic fatalities in the last five years and has fatality rates less than one-third of the national average and half that of other big cities, but speeding remains the greatest single factor in traffic deaths, contributing to 81 fatal traffic crashes in 2012 -- approximately 30 percent of all traffic fatalities. 

The bill authorizes the first-ever use of speed cameras at 20 locations with documented speeding issues within a quarter-mile of schools. It authorizes $50 fines for dangerous speeding, which, paired with existing red-light cameras and continuing aggressive enforcement of traffic laws, will help sustain the record traffic safety gains in New York City. 

The City is currently authorized to use red-light cameras at 150 locations citywide, which along with the installation of pedestrian countdown signals, safety education campaigns, Neighborhood Slow Zones, and redesigned intersections and corridors across the city, have contributed to New York’s record safety gains.

The Department of Transportation released a map earlier this year documenting 100 locations where 75 percent of vehicles were documented speeding within a quarter-mile of New York City schools. One hundred and twenty-nine jurisdictions across the nation currently use speed cameras, which take pictures of speeding cars that are then used to issue violations.







MEDIA CONTACT:


Marc La Vorgna / John J. McCarthy   (212) 788-2958

Seth Solomonow/Nicholas Mosquera   (DOT)
(212) 839-4850



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