Speed cameras will begin to monitor drivers’ speeds around the clock starting Aug. 1 (NYC DOT Vision Zero)
July 31, 2022 By Czarinna Andres
The city’s speed cameras will be in operation 24/7 starting Aug. 1.
The 2,000-plus cameras that have been placed across the five boroughs will be snapping photos 24/7 beginning Monday. The City will be issuing $50 tickets to drivers who are pictured going more than 10 miles per hour above the speed limit no matter the time of the day.
The cameras are all located within school zones, where they are within a quarter-mile radial distance of a school.
Under the current program, the cameras are in operation from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and are turned off completely on weekends. Legislation, however, was passed in Albany in May—and signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul last month—to expand the program to be 24/7.
Advocates for the cameras say that they need to be on 24/7. They point to DOT data that indicates that 31 percent of on-street traffic fatalities occur in camera zones at times when the cameras are not permitted to operate.
Speeding, according to city officials, has also decreased on average by 72 percent in the areas where the cameras are placed.
“New York City and a coalition of advocates worked hard and traveled often to Albany to get this full-time speed camera authorization passed,” said DOT Commissioner Rodriguez. “We have hard data that show speed cameras save lives.”
Councilmember Julie Won—who represents the western Queens neighborhoods of Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside—said that it is imperative in terms of street safety for the cameras to be operating 24/7.
“In the past year, seven people lost their lives and over 1,100 more were injured in my district alone,” Won said.
“No mother should lose their child or grieve a parent that was lost too soon in traffic violence. Street safety cameras are a proven way to reduce deaths and injuries in school zones. Turning them on 24/7 will ensure the safety of children and other vulnerable New Yorkers.”
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