Speeding Doesn’t Sleep
INTRODUCTION
New York City’s automated speed safety camera program, which operates to protect all New Yorkers around city schools, saves lives by reducing traffic crashes and reckless driving. However, by state law, the cameras are restricted from operating on nights and weekends.
These arbitrary restrictions come with deadly consequences:
In New York City, speeding is a major factor in four out of every five fatal traffic crashes that kill people in cars and traffic crashes are the leading cause of injurious death for children. Drug-Free School Zones and Gun-Free School Zones operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week because school zones should be safe spaces for children at all times. There is no reason that traffic safety should be an exception. Speeding doesn’t sleep, and when the life-saving benefits of speed safety cameras are restricted, people die.
Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets call on the New York State legislature to immediately reauthorize New York City’s speed safety camera program and remove any time and day restrictions, so safety cameras can protect New Yorkers 24/7/365 on needed streets. We also recommend three additional improvements to the program as it exists today:
Earmark fines collected by speed safety cameras to fund safety improvements on the street or within the community board district where the violation occurred, allowing the consequences of unsafe streets to be put toward a solution.
Develop an income-based fines system so the financial consequences of speeding are fair and relevant to the vehicle owner.
Create a fund wherein a portion of speed safety camera fines are made accessible to those injured in crashes and the families of those killed who face economic hardship in covering medical, burial, and other related expenses, and for whom current systems provide no resources.
Since 2013, speed safety cameras have successfully stood in for less effective and more costly methods for addressing dangerous driving, such as armed police enforcement. The New York City Department of Transportation has proven an exemplary steward of the program, avoiding problems incurred by other municipalities. It is no coincidence that, according to polling, New Yorkers, car owners included, strongly support the program and the use of automated enforcement over armed police in traffic enforcement. As the City of New York added more speed safety cameras to city streets over time, polling found that support for the program grew even greater.
Speed safety cameras also act as a quick-to-implement protective stop-gap measure on a dangerous street before it is redesigned for safety. While street redesign remains the gold standard for reaching Vision Zero, speed safety cameras are a proven tool to save lives.
THE PROBLEM
NEW YORK CITY HAS A DEADLY SPEEDING PROBLEM, EXACERBATED BY RESTRICTIONS ON SPEED SAFETY CAMERAS
Speeding is deadly, especially for children and seniors: Exceeding the speed limit is a major factor in about 80 percent of fatal car crashes in New York City, and traffic crashes are the leading cause of injury-related death for children under the age of 14 as well as senior citizens. Even a small reduction in speeding would reduce fatal pedestrian crashes, which decrease by 17 percent for every one mph reduction in driving speed. Slowing from 30 to 25 mph reduces the chance of a fatal crash by 78 percent.
Speeding and fatal crashes worsened during the pandemic: In April 2020, New York City documented a 100 percent increase in speeding drivers compared to February 2020. Crashes killed 273 people in 2021, the deadliest year on New York City streets since 2013, and a 33 percent increase over 2018, the safest year in recent history. This trend has continued with traffic fatalities in 2022 on track to be even worse than 2021’s record-breaking year, and, if this trend continues, 2022 will be the first year since 1990 that New York City has seen four consecutive years of increasing fatalities.
Restrictions on speed safety cameras are killing people: Citywide, 59 percent of traffic fatalities occur when the cameras are not permitted to operate — which is a full 52 percent of hours of the week. Current restrictions prevent New York City’s speed safety cameras from operating from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on weekdays and all hours of the day on weekends. By lifting these restrictions, we will save lives.
THE SOLUTION
SPEED SAFETY CAMERAS SOLVE THE SPEEDING PROBLEM BY REDUCING SPEEDING AND RECKLESS DRIVING
Speed safety cameras save lives: New York City’s speed safety camera program led to a 55 percent drop in all traffic fatalities at camera sites during hours of operation after its introduction, including a more than 19 percent reduction in crashes involving children walking or biking and a 17 percent drop in serious crash-related injuries.
Speed safety cameras reduce speeding: The installation of speed safety cameras led to a 72 percent decline in speeding at safety camera locations citywide. On the Grand Concourse in the Bronx and Union Turnpike in Queens, speed safety cameras led to an 89 percent decline in speeding; an 88 percent decline on Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn; and over 80 percent on Rockaway Boulevard, Gun Hill Road, Coney Island Avenue, Eastern Parkway, Hylan Boulevard, and Northern Boulevard.
Speed safety cameras reduce reckless driving: In 2020, more than half of drivers who received a first violation from a speed safety camera never received a second, even as the number of cameras (and therefore the odds of any speeding driver being ticketed) increased. In the ten weeks following the installation of a speed safety camera, the number of drivers exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph declined by 28 percent at any given site. By week 18, it declined by nearly half. Case in point: When the City of New York installed a speed safety camera at Ocean Avenue and Beverley Road in 2019, it caught 232 violations in its first month of service. One year later, it caught only 95 violations in a month. A little more than a year after that, the speed safety camera found only 24 speeders in a month.
New Yorkers overwhelmingly support speed safety cameras: According to recent polling by Siena College, 78 percent of New York City voters support speed safety cameras in school zones, including majorities of all age groups, races, and income levels, and in every borough. Even 73 percent of households that own cars support speed safety cameras.
Support has only grown in the years since the program was introduced — including 93 percent of Latino voters and 75 percent of Black voters, up from 88 and 67 percent support, respectively, in 2016.
New Yorkers prefer speed safety cameras to armed police traffic enforcement: Three in five New York City voters, including 74 percent of Latino voters, 65 percent of Black voters, and 66 percent of voters in households making under $50K per year, support relying on speed safety cameras and red light cameras for traffic enforcement rather than armed police officers.
RECOMMENDATIONS
THE WAY FORWARD
Traffic crashes remain the leading cause of injurious death for children in New York City and speeding remains a major factor in four of every five fatal crashes. This should be an unconscionable outcome in a city equipped with tools that protect people from speeding, such as speed safety cameras — however, today, Albany restricts the City of New York to when it can use this life-saving technology. While street redesign remains the gold standard for reaching Vision Zero, speed safety cameras are a proven tool to save lives and have the overwhelming support of New Yorkers.
All New Yorkers should be able to safely cross the street without fear of injury or death, and the areas surrounding schools and playgrounds should be safe havens from traffic violence at all times. Drug-Free School Zones and Gun-Free School Zones operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week because school zones should be safe spaces for children at all times. There is no reason that traffic safety should be an exception.
New York City’s speed safety camera program has demonstrated its life-saving capabilities many times over. The New York City Department of Transportation has proven an exemplary steward of the program. While the program is still considered a “demonstration” controlled by Albany, it has long since proven the case for its permanence.
To keep people safe on New York City’s streets, our leaders need every life-saving tool available. Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets strongly recommend that the New York State legislature lift the time and day restrictions on New York City’s automated speed safety camera program as it reauthorizes the program this session.
Further, there are critical improvements that could be made to the speed safety camera program as it exists today: Any fines collected by a speed safety camera should be earmarked to fund safety improvements to the street or within the community board district where the violation occurred, so the consequences of the unsafe streets will be put towards a solution. Fines should be income-based, so the financial consequences of speeding are fair and relevant to the vehicle owner. And, a portion of speed safety camera fines should be made accessible to those injured in crashes and the families of those killed, who face economic hardship in covering medical, burial, and other related expenses, and for whom current systems provide no resources.
Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets envision a city where New Yorkers of all ages can safely move around their neighborhoods. Safe passage should be a guarantee, not a gamble.
Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets envision a city where New Yorkers of all ages can safely move around their neighborhoods. Safe passage should be a guarantee, not a gamble.
MYTHS & FACTS ABOUT SPEED SAFETY CAMERAS
Myth: Speed safety cameras aren’t near schools.
Fact: Speed safety cameras do not issue violations unless you are in a school zone, as required by state law.
Myth: Speed safety cameras issue tickets as soon as you go over the speed limit.
Fact: Speed safety cameras do not issue violations unless you exceed the speed limit by more than 10 mph.
Myth: Speed safety cameras ticket people who are not speeding.
Fact: Speed safety camera violations are documented automatically by radar cameras and individually verified by a human being. The automated system is also incredibly accurate, with less than 0.1 percent of violations recorded found to be inaccurate after being double-checked by a person.
Myth: Speed safety cameras are a cash grab.
Fact: The stated goal of New York City’s speed safety camera program is to issue fewer tickets over time as a result of increased law abidance. In the 18 weeks following the installation of a speed safety camera, the number of drivers receiving violations declined by nearly half. At $50, speed camera tickets are also cheaper than speeding tickets issued by police officers, the latter ranging between $90-$600.
Myth: Speed safety cameras don't make streets safer.
Fact: Speed safety cameras reduced fatalities at camera sites in New York City by more than half. The U.S. Federal Highway Administration gives speed safety cameras its highest rating — five out of five — for effectiveness in reducing fatal and injurious crashes. Speed safety cameras also make streets safer in less tangible ways, such as reducing New York City’s reliance on armed police officers to conduct traffic stops.
Myth: Speed safety cameras put communities at risk.
Fact: Traffic stops are the most common source of interaction between people and armed police officers in the United States. Such traffic stops may result in violence, especially for people of color, and notably do not prevent traffic deaths. Speed safety cameras by contrast address reckless driving behavior while forgoing the risk of an interaction with an armed police officer.
Myth: Speed safety cameras discriminate against groups or individuals.
Fact: Speed safety cameras are unbiased in their operation and will issue a ticket uniformly to any vehicle exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph, regardless of the driver’s race, age, background, legal or economic status.
Myth: Speed safety cameras disproportionately issue tickets in communities of color.
Fact: This is not true in New York City. Speed safety camera violations are not disproportionately issued in communities of color.
Myth: New Yorkers do not care about street safety.
Fact: Recent public-opinion polling found that 79 percent of New York City voters see traffic violence as a problem, 70 percent of New York City voters know someone who has been killed or injured in a traffic crash, and 30 percent of New York City voters have been injured in a crash themselves. A majority also favor slower streets in their neighborhoods, with 68 percent in favor of 20 to 25 mph speed limits on residential streets.
Myth: Everyone hates speed safety cameras.
Fact: Recent public-opinion polling found that 78 percent of New York City voters strongly support the use of automated speed safety cameras, including 73 percent of car owners. The strongest supporters of the program are aged 18 to 34, over 65, Latino, or lower-income. As the New York City speed safety camera program has expanded in the last four years, support for speed safety cameras has also grown.
