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

  • May 12, 2020
    Why are so many US pedestrians dying?
    US pedestrian fatalities are at their highest level since 1988, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.
  • March 16, 2012
    American Traffic Solutions
    The City of Edmonton in the Alberta province of western Canada has a system in place which American Traffic Solutions (ATS) believes exemplifies how a road safety camera programme should be operated. Edmonton’s programme began in September 1999 with six cameras rotating through 12 locations. Nearly 10 years later, at the beginning of 2009, provincial legislation was passed allowing police agencies in Alberta to use road safety cameras to enforce both red light and speed infractions.
  • May 24, 2024
    More Jenoptik Vector units for Arkansas workzone speed limit initiative
    Arkansas DoT says crashes have dropped almost 30% since programme started in 2022
  • February 2, 2012
    US enforcement regulation to deliver clearer guidelines?
    Jim Tuton of American Traffic Solutions looks at the evolution of automated enforcement in North America "Technological regulation will become more sophisticated at the federal level, giving states clearer guidelines" Jim Tuton In just 20 years, photo enforcement in North America has grown from a single speed camera in a small town in Arizona to thousands of photo traffic enforcement cameras which are now operating in 350 communities spread across 27 states and three Canadian provinces. Most of these p