Too Fast, Too Furious: New York City’s Speeding Epidemic and the Case for Local Control of Speed Limits
Speeding drivers are a leading cause of death and injury on New York City streets. However, New York City officials do not have control over speed limits, leaving them without a critical tool to protect New Yorkers. A bill currently before the New York State Legislature — Sammy’s Law — seeks to empower the City of New York to set its own speed limits. Families for Safe Streets (FSS) and Transportation Alternatives (TA) recommend that the New York State Senate and Assembly pass Sammy’s Law (#S524A sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman / #A4655A sponsored by Assemblymember Richard Gottfried) this session, and that as soon as they are able, the New York City Council uses their new power to establish lower, life-saving speed limits in New York City.
Public opinion strongly favors this idea. A new poll conducted by Emerson College among a representative sample of 525 New York City voters found:
72 percent of New York City voters believe the City should have the authority to set its own speed limits.
68 percent of New York City voters said they “probably” or “definitely” would support seeing the speed limit lowered from 25 to 20 miles per hour on residential streets near their homes.
To demonstrate the need for local control over speed limits, FSS and TA used speed radar guns at five locations citywide, for two to four hours per location, in April and May of 2021, recording the speed of 1,670 drivers. Speeding was pervasive across a variety of street types, including low-traffic residential streets and high-traffic arterials:
70 percent of the total number of drivers we observed exceeded the speed limit
14 percent of the total number of drivers we observed exceeded the speed limit by 10 mph or more
In Brooklyn, 46 percent of drivers we observed exceeded the speed limit
In the Bronx, 52 percent of drivers we observed exceeded the speed limit
In Queens, 73 percent of drivers we observed exceeded the speed limit
In Manhattan, 30 percent of drivers we observed exceeded the speed limit
On Staten Island, 94 percent of drivers we observed exceeded the speed limit
We observed drivers traveling at speeds as high as 63 mph
Speeding has deadly consequences. More than 240 people were killed in traffic crashes in New York City in 2020, while speeding rose citywide. In the first four months of 2021, 70 people were killed. The last 12 months have been the deadliest 12-month period since Vision Zero began in 2014.
Fortunately, this is a problem that we know how to solve. In 2014, TA and Families for Safe Streets demanded that New York City’s speed limit be lowered to 20 mph. In a politically divided state legislature, a compromise was reached — lowering the speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph. In just the first year of this change:
Traffic fatalities fell by more than 22 percent
Pedestrian fatalities fell by more than 25 percent
Lower speed limits make everyone drive slower, including people who disobey the limit. Both Boston and Portland found that after lowering speed limits, those who exceeded the speed limit responded by reducing their driving speeds. The most dangerous drivers, those driving over 35 mph, saw the biggest reduction in speeds.
The City of New York could use speed limits as a tool to save lives — except today, the City does not have control over local speed limits. Sammy’s Law could change that, and that change, in tandem with other proven street safety measures, could protect countless New Yorkers. Across New York City, we have evidence that speed limits, slow zones, speed cameras, and street redesigns can reduce speeding, crashes, injuries, and fatalities. These safety systems are intentionally redundant and overlapping. If a danger gets through one system, the others will still provide protection. But without local control over the speed limit, the City of New York will always be missing a tool that could save lives.
We need immediate action to reverse the rising death toll on our streets. Passing Sammy’s Law would give the City of New York the power to set its own speed limits and create streets safe for all New Yorkers.
70 percent of the total number of drivers we observed exceeded the posted 25 mph speed limit.
14 percent of the total number of drivers we observed exceeded the speed limit by 10 mph or more.
The fastest drivers we observed citywide were traveling 63 mph. At that speed, it would take a driver nearly one and a half city blocks to stop on dry streets and two and a half city blocks to stop in the rain.
In Brooklyn, 35 percent of drivers we observed exceeded the 25 mph posted speed limit.
The fastest driver recorded was traveling 52 mph. That is 108 percent faster than the speed limit. At that speed, it would take a driver more than one city block to stop on dry streets and nearly one and three-quarter city blocks to stop in the rain.
TA staff and volunteers documented driver speed in Brooklyn on Remsen Avenue at Avenue N for a total of four hours over two sessions on May 19 and 21, 2021.
There are eight schools within one mile of this location, six of which serve pre-kindergarteners and elementary age school children. More than 50 percent of people who live within a half mile of this location commute by public transit, walking, or biking. One in four households do not have access to a vehicle. There are fewer streets with bike lanes and less sidewalk area in this neighborhood than in the rest of Brooklyn or New York City as a whole. Sidewalk area here is 70 percent less than the Brooklyn average. Over five years, on a 1.7-mile stretch of this street, 553 people were injured, 25 were severely injured, and four were killed in traffic crashes. A majority of people in this neighborhood (58 percent) admit to having exceeded the speed limit by 10 mph or more in the last 30 days. A Department of Transportation speed radar gun study in 2019 found 73 percent of drivers traveling over the 25 mph speed limit, and one in four of those drivers were speeding more than 10 miles over the limit.
More people have been killed in traffic crashes in Brooklyn thus far in 2021 than at this point of any year since Vision Zero began. Pedestrian fatalities in Brooklyn in April were four times higher than the previous April record. Pedestrian fatalities in Brooklyn in 2021 overall were 50 percent higher than the previous record.
In the Bronx, 52 percent of drivers we observed exceeded the 25 mph posted speed limit.
The fastest driver observed was traveling 41 mph. That is 64 percent faster than the speed limit. At that speed, it would take a driver over three-quarters of a city block to stop on dry streets and more than one city block to stop in the rain.
TA staff and volunteers documented driver speed in the Bronx on 135th Street at Willis Avenue for a total of two hours over one session on May 21, 2021.
There are two elementary schools within one block of this location, as well as a senior housing center, a nursery, a community center, and a church. There are 43 schools within one mile of this location, 41 of which serve pre-kindergarteners and elementary age school children. Of people who live within a half mile of this location, 86 percent commute by public transit, walking, or biking, and 79 percent do not have access to a vehicle. There are fewer protected bike lanes here than citywide, with only six percent of the city’s protected lanes located in the Bronx, even though residents here are just as likely to bike every month compared to other boroughs. Within one block of this location, there were 81 people injured in traffic crashes in four years. At least 45 percent of drivers in this neighborhood — a Vision Zero Priority Area — admit to having exceeded the speed limit by 10 mph or more in the last 30 days.
In March, there were as many traffic fatalities in the Bronx as in March 2017, the record for most March fatalities since Vision Zero began.
In Manhattan, 30 percent of drivers we observed exceeded the 25 mph posted speed limit.
The fastest driver observed was traveling 36 mph. That is 44 percent faster than the speed limit. At that speed, it would take a driver two-thirds of a city block to stop on dry streets and nearly nine-tenths of a city block to stop in the rain.
TA staff and volunteers documented driver speed in Manhattan on Ninth Avenue and Tenth Avenue at West 45th Street for a total of two hours over two sessions on May 17 and 19, 2021.
There are 15 schools within one mile of this location, 10 of which serve pre-kindergarteners and elementary age school children. Of people who live within a half mile of this location, 89 percent commute by public transit, walking, or biking, and 85 percent do not have access to a vehicle. Car traffic is twice as dense, and truck traffic three times as dense compared to New York City as a whole. Over the previous five years, on a 1.7-mile stretch of this street, 390 people were injured in traffic crashes — the majority being pedestrians and cyclists — and three were killed, all pedestrians and cyclists. Seventy percent of drivers in this neighborhood admit to having exceeded the speed limit by 10 mph or more in the last 30 days. This is a Vision Zero Priority Area, and both Ninth and Tenth avenues are Vision Zero Priority corridors.
In April, more people were killed in traffic crashes in Manhattan than in any April since Vision Zero began.
In Queens, 73 percent of drivers we observed exceeded the 25 mph posted speed limit.
The fastest driver observed was traveling 47 mph. That is 88 percent faster than the speed limit. At that speed, it would take a driver nine-tenths of a city block to stop on dry streets and nearly one and a half city blocks to stop in the rain.
TA staff and volunteers documented driver speed in Queens on Skillman Avenue at 32nd Place for a total of four hours over two sessions on April 23 and 25, 2021.
There are 20 schools within one mile of this location, half of which serve pre-kindergarteners and elementary age school children. People who live within a half mile of this location are more likely to own a car than New Yorkers as a whole, but they are less likely to drive to work and more likely to take public transit. Only 12 percent of people living within a half mile of this location drive to work, while 77 percent commute by public transit. Seventy six percent of drivers in this neighborhood admit to having exceeded the speed limit by 10 mph or more in the last 30 days.
In May, more people were killed in traffic crashes in Queens than in any May since Vision Zero began.
On Staten Island, a staggering 94 percent of drivers we observed exceeded the 25 mph posted speed limit.
The fastest driver observed was traveling 63 mph. That is 152 percent faster than the speed limit. At that speed, it would take a driver nearly one and a half city blocks to stop on dry streets and two and half city blocks to stop in the rain.
TA staff and volunteers documented driver speed on Staten Island on Slosson Avenue at Martling Avenue for a total of four hours over two sessions on May 7 and 11, 2021.
There are eight schools within one mile of this location, seven of which serve elementary age school children. One in three people who live within a half mile of this location commute by public transit, walking, or biking. Two Vision Zero Priority Corridors are within a half mile of this location. Nearby Slosson Avenue averages 4.9 pedestrians killed and seriously injured per mile, a figure which has shown no recent improvement. Nearby Victory Boulevard averages 3.2 pedestrians killed and seriously injured per mile, a figure which has increased by eight percent in the last five years. A whopping 77 percent of drivers in this neighborhood admit to having exceeded the speed limit by 10 mph or more in the last 30 days, more than in any neighborhood in New York City.
More people have been killed in traffic crashes on Staten Island thus far in 2021 than at this point of any year since Vision Zero began.
Sammy’s Law is named for Sammy Cohen Eckstein, a 12-year-old boy killed by a driver on Prospect Park West in Brooklyn in 2013. After Sammy was killed, his mother, Amy Cohen, co-founded Families for Safe Streets and fought alongside TA to lower New York City’s speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph. This state legislation was enacted in 2014, and evidence of the lifesaving power of a lower speed limit soon followed. Shortly after New York City’s speed limit was lowered, another child was struck by a driver on the same street where Sammy was killed. That child lived. The difference was a lower speed limit.
(Source: Vision Zero San Francisco)
Speed kills, and speed kills pedestrians especially. Half of pedestrian fatalities occur at a speed of 30 mph or lower. Even low-impact speeds correlate with a significant likelihood of death and severe injury. At an impact speed of 23 mph, 10 percent of pedestrians struck will die and 25 percent will suffer severe injury. Around 30 mph, 50 percent will be severely injured and 25 percent will be killed. At around 40 mph, 75 percent will be severely injured and 50 percent will die. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety quantified the effects of speed limit increases across the country between 1997 and 2017 and found that increasing the speed limit by five miles per hour resulted in 36,750 more traffic fatalities than would have been expected had the speed limit not been changed.
Five miles per hour can make a difference, because most speed is lost during the last few meters of braking. If a car traveling 25 mph and another traveling 30 mph hit the brakes at the same time, by the time the car traveling at 25 mph comes to a stop, the car that was traveling 30 mph will only have been able to reduce its speed to 25 mph. A difference of five miles per hour in initial traveling speed results in a difference of 25 mph in impact speed.
In New York City, this risk is inequitably distributed. People living in high-poverty neighborhoods, older New Yorkers, people with disabilities, children, cyclists, and pedestrians are all especially vulnerable to speeding-related injury and death. For pedestrians, the probability of death in case of a crash is 14 times higher than car occupants; for cyclists, the probability is eight times higher. In high-poverty neighborhoods, pedestrians are three times more likely to be killed in crashes — for every 100 miles of roadway, there were nine pedestrian fatalities in high-poverty neighborhoods compared to three in low-poverty neighborhoods. Control over the speed limit is especially important in residential areas, as one in four children killed in a traffic crash in New York City are killed within two blocks of their homes; for senior citizens, one and five are killed in the same perimeter.
In 2014, the City of New York lowered the citywide speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph. Within a year, this change saved lives. Traffic fatalities fell by more than 22 percent and pedestrian fatalities fell by more than 25 percent.
Evidence from Boston, Massachusetts and Portland, Oregon demonstrate that lowering speed limits changes the behavior of reckless drivers — those who exceed the speed limit respond to lowered speed limits by reducing their driving speeds. The most dangerous drivers — those driving over 35 mph — saw the biggest reduction in speeds. When Boston lowered its speed limit to 25 mph, the number of Boston drivers exceeding 35 mph decreased by 29 percent. When Portland lowered its speed limit from 25 mph to 20 mph, the number of Portland drivers traveling between 30 to 35 mph decreased 26 percent, and the number exceeding 35 mph decreased by 47 percent.
Researchers found that the crash rate decreases by four to six percent for every one mile per hour reduction in speed. A one mile per hour reduction in driving speed has also been shown to result in a 17 percent decrease in fatal crashes, and a 10 percent reduction in the average speed resulted in 19 percent fewer injurious crashes, 27 percent fewer severe crashes, and 34 percent fewer fatal crashes.
Evidence from the United Kingdom and small areas of New York City demonstrate the lifesaving effectiveness of a 20 mph limit.
After Edinburgh, Scotland lowered the speed limit in select areas of the city to 20 mph, the rate of cyclists and pedestrians injured in crashes fell by 25 percent. After London, England lowered the speed limit in select areas of the city to 20 mph, the rate of injurious traffic crashes fell by 42 percent and the rate of crashes involving fatality or serious injury fell by 53 percent within the zones. The existence of lowered speed zones also improved safety citywide, resulting in a 42 percent reduction in all traffic-related fatalities. The change especially benefited children and cyclists, reducing the number of children killed and seriously injured in crashes by 50 percent and reducing the number of cyclists killed by 17 percent.
Further evidence can be found in New York City’s Neighborhood Slow Zones, which lowered the speed limit to 20 mph in concentrated areas. In Neighborhood Slow Zones, there was a 14 percent reduction in injurious crashes and a 31 percent reduction in injuries for drivers and passengers.
Public opinion strongly favors local control of the speed limit. A new poll conducted by Emerson College among a representative sample of 525 New York City voters found that 72 percent of New York City voters believe the City should have the authority to set its own speed limits. Additionally, 68 percent of New York City voters said they “probably” or “definitely” would support seeing the speed limit lowered from 25 to 20 miles per hour on residential streets near their homes.
New Yorkers are also all too aware of the results of speeding, with 70 percent reporting that they know someone injured or killed in a traffic crash, and 30 percent reporting that they themselves have been injured in one. These percentages are even higher for Black New Yorkers, households making under $50,000, New Yorkers over 50, and Staten Island residents.
If the City of New York does nothing, crashes and fatalities will continue rising citywide. Already, traffic fatalities have been on the rise in New York City for two years, and 2021 is on track to be even worse. The last 12 months have been the deadliest 12-month period since Vision Zero began in 2014. Pandemic-related shutdowns brought a massive increase in speeding drivers. If the State acts now to give the City local control over the speed limit, it will pave the way for the City to safely give streets space back to people walking and biking.
“Defenses-in-depth” is an idea, new to traffic engineering, that has long been used to keep industrial workplaces and military forces safe. Safety systems that protect human life in potentially dangerous places should be redundant and overlapping. If a danger gets through one system, the others will still provide protection.
There are many overlapping safety systems that have proven effective at protecting New Yorkers on our streets: In 2014, lowering New York City’s speed limits from 30 mph to 25 mph reduced traffic fatalities by 25 percent; installing automated speed safety cameras reduced speeding by more than 70 percent and injuries by nearly 17 percent at camera locations; and streets that have been redesigned for safety across New York City have proven to reduce speeding, crashes, injuries, and fatalities.
Saving lives on New York City streets requires “defenses-in-depth.” These systems work together to protect us. But today, one of those defenses — control over the speed limit — remains out of our control.
New York City needs access to every available tool to protect New Yorkers’ lives, including putting speed limits in our control.
A majority of New Yorkers agree: the City of New York should have the power to lower local speed limits.
Excess speeds cannot be the norm on our streets. Hundreds are killed every year, and this year is on track to be one of the most deadly in recent memory.
We know how to stop this awful trend. By giving the City of New York local control over speed limits and lowering speed limits, our elected leaders will have one more tool to help stop the speeding epidemic and save lives.
We have direct evidence that lowering speed limits reduces traffic fatalities citywide. When the New York State Legislature authorized lowering New York City’s speed limit by just five miles per hour, in just the first year of this change, traffic fatalities fell by more than 22 percent and pedestrian fatalities fell by more than 25 percent.
We must lower New York City’s speed limits to save lives — no more families should have to suffer due to a preventable traffic crash.
In light of the pervasive and deadly epidemic of speeding on city streets — and the proof that lowering the speed limit is an effective, actionable, and efficient solution to the problem — FSS and TA recommend:
New York State
The New York State Senate and Assembly should pass Sammy’s Law (#S524 / #A4655) in the Spring 2021 session to give New York City local control over its speed limit. Governor Andrew Cuomo should immediately sign the bill into law.
In addition to Sammy’s Law, New York State Senate and Assembly should pass, and Governor Andrew Cuomo should sign, the seven additional bills in the Crash Victim Rights and Safety Act into law, including:
Speed Cameras 24/7 (#S5602 / #A6681) to allow New York City’s speed safety camera program to operate 24/7
Crash Victim Bill of Rights (Glick) to provide legal rights to crash victims
Vehicle Safety Rating and Labeling (#S4307 / #A575) to create a rating system to assess the risk a vehicle poses to pedestrians
BAC .05 (#S131 / #A7197) to lower the BAC threshold from .08 to .05 to rein in intoxicated driving (#S131)
Dangerous Driving (#S6202 / #A7032) to make it easier to charge reckless drivers who kill with misdemeanors
Safe Passage (#S4529 / #A547) to require drivers keep a three-foot distance when passing cyclists
DMV Pre-Licensing Course (#S1078A / #A5084) to add bicyclist and pedestrian safety education to the DMV driver’s education currIculum
New York City
Following the passage of Sammy’s Law in the New York State Legislature, the New York City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio should lower speed limits across New York City.
Following the passage of the Speed Cameras 24/7 bill in the New York State Legislature, the New York City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio should immediately expand the operating hours of New York City’s speed cameras.
As the city prepares to welcome a new mayor, the continued redesign of dangerous streets and creation of new car-free spaces must remain a priority. We know that, in addition to the legislative priorities outlined in this report, the best way to protect New Yorkers is to prioritize people, not cars, on our streets. Transportation Alternatives and a coalition of 200 partners are calling on our next mayor to repurpose 25 percent of our street space by 2025 in support of the needs and safety of all New Yorkers.
The speeding data in this report was collected at five locations in New York City in April and May 2021. FSS and TA staff and volunteers documented driver speeds for a total of 16 hours, recording the speed of 1,670 drivers. Locations were chosen using anecdotal reports of speeding as well as crash data. Street types include both low-traffic residential streets and high-traffic arterial streets. Data was collected by multiple staff members and volunteers at each location, including one counting passing vehicles and another recording their speed, for a minimum of two hours at each location. Averages, superlative speed, and rates of speeding were all developed from this data.
