The New York State Legislature has passed a bill to expand the use of speed cameras in New York City school zones.
The bill would add roughly 600 school zone speed cameras across New York City, while increasing the enforcement period time, 6am to 10pm.
“The legislation continues the old standards that were put in place in the pilot program five years ago,” said Senate bill sponsor Andrew Gounardes. [NYC] Department of Transportation would be given the authority to place them based on traffic data, speeding data, history of accidents or crashes in theses school zones. This is all data driven analysis. This is not an arbitrary placement of the cameras.”
Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg says the 140 already in place have proved effective.
“We will continue to run this program in a way that is fair, transparent, data driven and that we know saves lives,” she said. “We’ve seen fatalities in New York City decline by a third I n the past five years and we are proud of that.”
State lawmakers are aiming to expand the speed camera program beyond New York City schools, passing another law to create a pilot plan in Buffalo.