NYPD Steps Up Traffic Safety Enforcement: as Darkness Increases, Visibility Decreases

    by Yehudit Garmaise 

     As the sun sets earlier and earlier as winter approaches, drivers should remember that just as objects are more difficult to see during hours of darkness, spotting pedestrians and cyclists as they cross the street at night is no different, said Kim Royster, who is the NYPD’s chief of transportation.

     Between November 2020 and March 2021, which are the months with the fewest daylight hours, 44 New Yorkers died on the streets after being struck by cars, Royster pointed out.

     To decrease pedestrian and bicyclist deaths this winter, the NYPD will be stepping up enforcement of traffic safety by increasing its ticketing of drivers who speed, fail to yield, text, and talk on their cell phones, said the mayor, who said that the city is bringing back its Dusk and Darkness Campaign in time for the end of Daylight Savings Time on Sunday at 2am. 

     “Our precinct traffic safety teams, which are in all of our 77 precincts, will address any hazardous driving violations that put pedestrians, cyclists, older adults, and our children at risk: including drivers who double park and drivers who block bus and bike lanes," said Royster.

      While the NYPD will be cracking down, “drivers must also take care to understand the powerful responsibility they have when they get behind the wheel,” Royster said. “Making the right choices will prevent tragedies on our roadways.” 

     For instance, drivers should keep in mind, when dusk starts to come in at 4pm, that 58% of our pedestrian deaths occur at intersections and that left turns, which are taken at faster speeds, are more dangerous than right turns, Royster said.

     Getting drivers to slow down is so crucial, as pedestrians, “our family members,” she said, are twice as likely to die after being struck by cars that are traveling at 30 miles per hour, rather than 25 miles per hour.

     In addition to the city's efforts, “Albany needs to better help us: with things like speed cameras, which save lives,” the mayor said.

    “Everybody knows that Speed Kills,” said Assembly member Deborah Glick, whom the mayor said “led the charge for speed cameras in the city in 2013 and is continuing the fight to allow the use of speed cameras: nights and weekends. “Although New York City Streets were emptier throughout the pandemic, the city saw an increase in speeding and reckless behavior.

     “It is impossible to have our great NYPD partners everywhere, so it is vital that we be able to use speed cameras every day and at all times of day and night.

     "The speed camera legislation is focused on school zones," Glick said, “to ensure that our children, their caregivers, and school personnel would be safer as they travel to and from school,” even in the evenings or on weekends,” when speed cameras are currently not allowed to be used.