Skip to main content

New York to implement speed cameras near schools

New York City is to establish a five-year demonstration programme to monitor school speed zones in New York City with speed cameras and to allow evidence captured on camera to be used to impose liability for speeding. This new law will enhance the safety of children, pedestrians and drivers in city school speed zones by encouraging drivers to drive with caution through these areas and supplement law enforcement efforts to catch violations and prevent accidents caused by speeding. New York Governor Andrew M
August 16, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
New York City is to establish a five-year demonstration programme to monitor school speed zones in New York City with speed cameras and to allow evidence captured on camera to be used to impose liability for speeding.

This new law will enhance the safety of children, pedestrians and drivers in city school speed zones by encouraging drivers to drive with caution through these areas and supplement law enforcement efforts to catch violations and prevent accidents caused by speeding.

New York Governor Andrew M Cuomo signed the legislation, saying “Speeding in school zones puts our children at risk and preventing this reckless behaviour should be a priority.”

“This law will allow New York City to undertake a pilot program to see if using speed cameras in school zones is an effective way of preventing accidents and protecting both pedestrians and drivers. These cameras will supplement efforts by law enforcement to root out speeding violations in these protected areas, and encourage drivers to use caution when driving through school zones. Overall, this will contribute to a safer school environment for our students.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg added, “Innovative traffic engineering and aggressive enforcement have resulted in traffic fatalities in New York City reaching all-time record lows in the past decade. But speeding remains the single greatest contributing factor in traffic fatalities in New York City. Decreasing the number of drivers who speed is a proven lifesaving measure and this legislation does exactly that.”

The law takes effect on 31 August and authorises New York City to set up speed cameras in up to 20 school speed zones at a given time.

Related Content

  • Heading the right way with Caltrans
    October 27, 2020
    Wrong-way collisions are relatively rare – but they are often head-on and fatal. After recent studies, California DoT is reviewing its highway design standards
  • New York City plans to test speed cameras
    March 14, 2013
    New York state and local leaders are considering a bill that would enable New York City to install up to forty stationary and roving speed cameras at high-risk locations for the next five years. The calls for a crackdown on speeding come after several high-profile crashes. One in four traffic deaths in New York City is caused by speeding. In 2011 alone, 70 people were killed and 4,700 people were injured as a result of speed-related crashes in the five boroughs. “Speeding is the number one cause of fatal c
  • TRL: Cities must do more to help VRUs
    May 9, 2019
    UK cities must learn from the Netherlands and Denmark if active travel and increased safety for vulnerable road users are to co-exist, says TRL’s Marcus Jones Active travel’ refers to modes of transport in which physical effort is required to undertake purposeful journeys - for example, walking or cycling to school, work or the local shops, as well as walking and standing as part of accessing public transport. The benefits of replacing short car journeys with more active forms of transport are obvious. Act
  • Traffex snapshot reveals enforcement advances
    July 24, 2017
    An indication of just how far beyond spot speed and red light the enforcement sector has progressed was evident in the range of new and improved equipment on display at the recent Traffex event in Birmingham. One of the key trends, particularly in the UK but also evident elsewhere, is the increase in average speed enforcement, according to RedSpeed’s managing director Robert Ryan, who predicts a big increase in installations this year. “The price point has reached a level authorities can afford,” he says, a