Poll: Vast Majority of New York City Voters Support Speed Safety Cameras
Survey by Public Policy Polling found 88 percent support for the life-saving program, including 77 percent who want to see it expanded to cover more schools
New York City voters overwhelmingly support the city’s life-saving speed safety camera program and want the state Senate to reconvene and vote to extend and expand the authorization to use these cameras, according to a new survey from Public Policy Polling. If the state Senate takes no action, the current speed safety camera program, which deploys 140 cameras and covers less than 10 percent of schools in the city, will expire on July 25.
Eighty-eight percent of New Yorkers surveyed support speed safety camera enforcement, including 77 percent who support expanding the speed safety camera program to more schools, and 11 percent who support maintaining the existing 140-camera program. Just 9 percent think the program should be eliminated. Voters across demographic and party subgroups – including 85 percent of seniors and 53 percent of Republicans – want to see the speed camera program expanded to more schools.
74 percent of Republicans support expanding or keeping the program, as do 93 percent of New Yorkers over 65 years old.
Outer borough support for speed safety cameras is also strong: 93 percent of Brooklynites, and 73 percent of Staten Islanders, support expanding or keeping the program.
Among seniors, 92 percent of Brooklynites and 85 percent of Staten Islanders over 65 years old support expanding or keeping the existing program.
Of voters surveyed, nearly three-quarters support reconvening the state Senate to take a vote to extend and expand the speed camera program. Seventy-three percent – including 79 percent of seniors, 76 percent of Brooklynites, and 54 percent of Republicans – support reconvening the Senate, while just 17 percent oppose it.
New Yorkers are also more supportive of lawmakers who favor speed cameras. A majority (55 percent) are more likely to back candidates who support the speed safety camera program. This support is especially prominent among voters over 65 years old (62 percent) and Brooklynites (62 percent).
“There are few things that more than 75 percent of New Yorkers can agree on. Extending and expanding the city’s proven speed safety camera program is one of them,” said Transportation Alternatives spokesperson Joe Cutrufo. “The Republicans in control of the Senate were elected to lead, but they missed their chance. Now they must follow the lead of voters. It’s an opportunity not only to do what’s right, but also to do something that’s quite popular.”
In addition to the vast majority of New York City voters, the bill to extend and expand the city's speed safety camera program has the support of a broad coalition of schools, hospitals, religious institutions and community organizations, as well as Mayor Bill de Blasio, the New York City Council, Governor Andrew Cuomo, 33 co-sponsors in the New York State Senate, and the New York State Assembly, which passed the bill by wide margins in 2017 and 2018.