Mayor de Blasio Asks the State to Allow Speed Cameras in the City 24/7

By Yehudit Garmaise

   Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he can understand why New Yorkers do not like the concept of speed cameras.

   “Anyone who hears the words ‘speed cameras,’ immediately get [unpleasantly] reminded of the tickets they get,” said the mayor, who added that he also been unhappy to get speeding tickets in the past. “But you know what? 

   “Speed cameras change behavior. They get people to start slowing down. They get people to obey the law. They work. And we need more of them. Because we need to save lives.”

   Drivers who speed are the biggest causes of deaths among pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists in the city, and what most changes the behavior of speeding drivers are speed cameras and tickets, the mayor said this morning at his press conference. 

   “We still have too many restrictions holding us back from saving lives, and these restrictions don’t make sense,” said the mayor, who announced that he is asking the New York State legislature to allow the city to use speed cameras 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

    “Please remember the most basic fact in the world: if you are not speeding, then you won’t get a ticket, and you have nothing to worry about from a speed camera,” Mayor de Blasio said.

    Speed cameras are a crucial initiative of the mayor’s Vision Zero campaign to drastically reduce traffic fatalities because ¾ of the traffic fatalities this year took place during times and in places that the state law does not allow automated speed enforcement, he explained.

   In addition, more than 1/3 of the non-highway fatalities occurred in school zones during times when speed cameras could not issue tickets, said the mayor, who added that he fought to get speed cameras in school zones to save the lives of kids, parents, and grandparents.

   “But even in those school zones,” he added, “we are seeing people’s lives lost because we can’t operate those cameras enough of the day, and that doesn’t make sense.

   “It is time to change the law.”

   In addition to using speed cameras during school drop-off and pick-up times, the automated monitoring of speeding is also particularly necessary during the overnight hours, where the mayor said, “we have seen, unfortunately, some really horrible moments and people’s lives lost."

  Mayor de Blasio added that this week, in particular, the NYPD also is going to be cracking down on drunk driving, which, he said “we know is a challenge in every holiday season.”

    “We are especially worried about [drunk driving] this year with such a horrible year people have been through,” the mayor said. “So you are going to see NYPD out in force, addressing drunk driving, and making sure people understand there are real consequences [to speeding and driving under the influence.]”