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NYC Speed Limits – “20 is Plenty”

20 is Plenty
Right of Way, a New York City pedestrian advocacy group, has been placing these signs in 11 neighborhoods throughout the city. (Photo Source)

Recently, New York City drivers may have noticed a flurry of “20 is Plenty” signs springing up in many of their neighborhoods. These signs, designed to mimic standard speed limit signs, were the results of a campaign staged by Right of Way, a group whose self-stated mission is to, “assert the public right of way and turn the streets into vibrant public space for all.”

The group placed these signs in 11 New York City neighborhoods in sections of Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Each of these 11 neighborhoods had applied through the city’s Slow Zones Program to have their speed limits lowered from the city’s standard 30 miles per hour down to 20 mph but had not gotten any response.

According to Right of Way, “These communities knew their streets were dangerous and asked the city to fix them, but were told no or not yet by the previous administration.”

The group hopes this initiative, coming on the heels of Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s “Vision Zero” plan, will draw attention back to these neighborhoods’ Slow Zone requests.

Under Vision Zero, Mayor DeBlasio hopes to completely eliminate traffic fatalities within the 5 boroughs. So far, the plan has meant stricter enforcement of traffic violations like speeding while also causing the NYPD to issue more jaywalking tickets. The addition of speed cameras to several New York City streets and the NYPD’s recent investment into more radar guns shows how dedicated DeBlasio and his administration are to Vision Zero and continuing to improving road safety.

Staten Island Cracking Down on Speeders

In October 2013, Assistant Police Chief Edward Delatorre, who is the NYPD commander for Staten Island, warned aggressive drivers that they will be cracking down on speeding.  Since then, cops issued hundreds more tickets for speeding and stop sign violations. While tickets for speeding violations increased, tickets for cell phone and seat belt violations have decreased.

Changing Focus

The shift in focus for which New York traffic violations to enforce may be related to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s unveiling of his Vision Zero initiative to reduce traffic deaths. An integral part of the mayor’s plan is to lower city speed limits to 25 mph and install additional speed cameras throughout the city. NYPD Chief Thomas Chan, head of NYPD’s Transportation Bureau recently announced to the City Council that the police department is adding 200 speed guns to city’s arsenal of 56 guns.

Staten Island
Staten Island, where police are stepping up enforcement by issuing more speeding tickets.

Speeding violations increased in Staten Island in recent months — 534 in January 2014, 344 in December 2013, 417 in November and 320 in October, compared to 200 in September, 208 in August, 239 in July and 275 in June.

There has been a similar increase in “disobey sign” tickets.  In January 2014, NYPD officers issued 598 tickets. In December, November and October 2013, Staten Island police officers handed out 562, 685 and 608 tickets respectively. These reflect marked increase to the number of tickets issued in September (439), August (388), July (421) and June 2013 (380).

Delatorre admits that the spike in speeding and stop sign tickets is a concerted effort to enforce NY speeding and stop sign laws in unexpected locations. He explained that police are positioning themselves in quiet places where people will not expect them to be.

Drop in cell phone tickets and seat belt violations

In January 2014, NYPD police in Staten Island issued only 243 cell phone summonses; whereas police handed out 424 in September and 473 in August. The number of seat belt violations also decreased:  225 were reported in January 2014 and 511 were recorded in August 2013.

Before stuffing your speeding ticket or other traffic violations summons into your glove box, call an experienced New York traffic ticket lawyer who achieves results. We have helped NY residents reduce their points and lower their fines and surcharges.  Call today for a free consultation: 888-434-0406.

NYPD Adds 200 Radar Guns to Catch More Speeding Drivers

With 286 people killed in traffic accidents in New York City last year, combating speeding, the main cause of collisions, has become a priority for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. In fact, de Blasio has instituted a broad plan to eradicate all traffic fatalities in New York City by 2024.

In line with “Vision Zero,” the New York City Police Department is now increasing the number of radar guns it owns by 200. The increase will more than quadruple the only 56 radar guns the NYPD previously had in its arsenal.

In addition to the increase in speed detection equipment, training for police officers will also be augmented. Cops throughout the city’s 77 precincts are already being trained to use the new radar guns, and traffic enforcement is to be made part of every officer’s daily work assignment.

For drivers, the introduction of more radar guns and the placement of new speed cameras at intersections throughout the city, as well as increased ticketing for speeding by the NYPD mean that the odds of getting a speeding ticket in New York City are also sure to increase.

Radar Gun Catching Speeders
A police officer using a radar speed detection gun. The NYPD has just ordered 200 of these to help catch speeders in New York State.

 

(Source: http://nypost.com/2014/02/25/nypd-adding-200-radar-guns-to-combat-speeding/)

New York City’s New Speed Cameras Catch 1,000 Drivers in Two Weeks

New York Speeding Camera
A camera designed to catch speeding drivers. In New York similar cameras have caught over 1,000 drivers speeding in a 2-week span. (Photo Source: Wikipedia)

Part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Vision Zero” traffic initiative to eradicate pedestrian fatalities in New York City, six speed cameras have been placed in intersections across the city. In the only two weeks since their installation, the cameras have caught nearly 1,000 motorists exceeding the speed limit. The success of the speed camera program thus far has caused Albany to approve the installation of 20 more speed cameras. However, Mayor de Blasio has urged that even more cameras be installed at intersections throughout the city in the future, in an effort to more strictly enforce posted speed limits in New York City.

Though the speed cameras are certainly effective at clocking speeding drivers and provide an additional source of revenue for the city, the new traffic camera program has nevertheless faced criticism by law enforcement. Police unions contend that cameras will never be able to replace the professional training and judgment of police officers who can recognize other, and often more serious, offenses being committed by drivers caught speeding, such as driving under the influence, driving without a license or insurance, or even carrying an illegal weapon. To police, the cameras actually prevent opportunities to make the roads safer by charging especially dangerous drivers and criminals with lesser speeding offenses. However, in light of lax past ticketing practices by police in the city, the cameras are, for now, being viewed as a much-needed deterrent to fatality-causing speeding on New York City streets.

 

(Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/1-000-motorists-caught-speeding-week-period-article-1.1598760)

Over One Hundred Tickets Issued in 3 Hours by New York State Police on I-84

New York I84
A sign for New York Interstate 84 where State Troopers recently issued over 100 tickets in a 3-hour ticket blitz.

On January 12th, New York Troopers engaged in a ticketing blitz on I-84 where the highway passes through the town of East Fishkill in Dutchess County, approximately 60 miles north of New York City. Over the course of 3 hours, 79 drivers were ticketed for exceeding the highway’s 65 mile per hour speed limit. Another 31 tickets were issued for various traffic infractions including failure to wear a seat belt, use of a hand-held cell phone or other electronic device while driving, and violation of New York’s “move-over” law (VTL 1144-a).

As part of Governor Cuomo’s hard-line stance against speeding and distracted driving, ticketing blitzes are becoming a more common occurrence to deter drivers driving in New York from exceeding the speed limit. This past Sunday comprises the most recent ticketing blitz by the New York State Police. Previous major ticketing blitzes have traditionally occurred in July and August, during the summer weeks leading up to Labor Day, when many vacationers are on the road and eager to get to their holiday destinations. During “speed week” and other major ticketing blitzes, police have been known to issue over a thousand speeding tickets in a single week.

 

(Source: http://www.vosizneias.com/152086/2014/01/13/troopers-issue-130-tickets-on-nys-i-84-in-3-hours/)

New York’s New Anti-Speeding Campaign

Recently, New York’s Department of Transportation has created a series of advertisements intended to cause drivers to think twice before speeding. The ads, which consist of images of New Yorkers holding up pictures of loved ones lost to speeding collisions, underlined with captions about who the individual was and what milestone they would be celebrating now if they were still alive, are meant to make drivers consider how one brief moment of reckless driving can have very permanent consequences.

New York Anti-Speeding Advertisement
New York’s new anti-speeding campaign. (Source: NYDOT)

The District of Columbia has similarly begun an advertising campaign against the dangers of speeding; instead of still photographs, the District of Columbia Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Police Department have compiled a three minute video about the dangers of speeding, featuring police officers, surgeons, and others who deal with the aftermath of speeding accidents. The video emphasizes how serious the injuries caused by speeding are, with brain injury being one of the more common injuries of a speeding crash, and explains that accidents due to speeding are usually entirely avoidable.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding is one of the most dangerous activities drivers can engage in on the road, causing nearly a third of all traffic fatalities, or killing approximately 10,000 people, each year. The hope is that advertising campaigns such as D.C.’s “Toward Zero Deaths” and New York’s photographs highlighting the tragedies that speeding causes will, in addition to stricter enforcement and increased ticketing for speeding, remind drivers to drive the speed limit and avoid the unnecessary risks that rushing to a destination can cause.

 

(Source: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/21217/who-has-the-best-anti-speeding-ads-new-york-or-dc/)

Speeding Ticket Money-Maker: Route 219 Speed Trap in Limestone

Drivers passing through the hamlet of Limestone in the town of Carrollton along U.S. Route 219 should be wary of the road’s sudden drop from 55 to 40 miles per hour. Though this 15 mile decrease in speed for such a short distance may not raise eyebrows, the area is a favorite spot of New York State Police, the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Department, and Allegany State Park Police officers patrolling for speeding drivers. In fact, the mile-long stretch of road and surrounding community earned $301,000 in speeding tickets last year, more than any other community in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties.

Limestone, NY
The hamlet of Limestone, New York, where a speed trap on Route 219 has lead to an abundance of speeding tickets.

Police ascribe the copious speeding tickets handed out in the area to Limestone’s at-grade intersection with the four-lane highway, which, as the site of numerous serious accidents, caused residents to petition the state to lower the speed limit to its current status. Today, police justify their ticketing practices by the fact that many drivers found speeding in the area are still caught at dangerous speeds of 20 miles or more over the limit, despite a caution light in place.

However, some contend that making money, rather than ensuring safety, is law enforcement’s main concern, a position bolstered by the fact that many of the drivers fined in the area are from out of town, out of state, or Canada and tend not to contest their tickets. The area’s heavy patrol has undeniably proven lucrative, with the state enjoying $220,015, the municipality $75,735, and the county $5,300 from fines issued last year in Carrollton.

Many urge that the stretch of roadway should not be a revenue-raising speed trap; instead, emphasis should be on preventing speeding, rather than simply catching wrong-doers. To that effect, some residents are now petitioning for the installation of larger bright-yellow signs along the mile-stretch of highway, to replace the small white and black signs currently in place, to more effectively warn drivers of the need to slow down when passing through the hamlet.

When hiring an attorney to represent you in traffic court, it is important to look for one with the right experience. The lawyers at the Rosenblum Law Firm have represented clients at the Carrollton Town Court, Ashford Town Court, Randolph Town Court, Friendship Town Court, and Angelica Town Court, and have the expertise to skillfully guide you through the process, saving you time, money, and hassle. Call us for a free consultation at 888-434-0406.

(Source: http://www.oleantimesherald.com/news/article_14beb8d0-6545-11e3-ad17-0019bb2963f4.html)

NY to Use New Technology to Prevent Wrong-Way Accidents

Soon, New York will be the first state in the nation to utilize innovative technology to alert drivers about to drive the wrong way onto the highway to turn around and to warn other drivers and police nearby of the impending danger of a wrong-way driver.

To achieve this feat, New York will place Doppler radar-assisted LED signs at sites where serious wrong-way crashes have occurred. Upon radar detecting a vehicle about to head the wrong direction onto the thruway, the signs will be triggered to flash bright warnings that will alert the driver and tell them to pull over and safely turn around. Yet to be installed, a fiber optics system will also send messages to other drivers in the area to be aware of the risk of collision with a wrong-way driver. In addition, the system will send an alert to the Thruway’s Statewide Operations Center that can be shared with local police.

So far, the Niagara Expressway (I-190) at the southbound exit 9 off-ramp in Buffalo and exit 10 on I-87/I-287 in Nyack, Rockland County have been designated as sites for the placement of the LED signs, with other exits along the thruway system in New York to be similarly identified for LED sign postings in the future.

Last year was the safest year in the 59-year history of the New York Thruway Authority, with an accident rate in New York that amounted to 20% below the national average. New York State’s greater use of technology, such as LED signs and fiber optics in place of ordinary “Wrong Way” metal signs, demonstrates the state’s strong commitment to make New York highways even safer.

(Sources: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Wrong-Way-Crash-New-York-Thruway-Death-Fatal-Radar-Text-Alert-234407621.html)

Year-to-Date Speeding Tickets in New York City Up 25%

Though traffic fatalities have decreased by 30 percent in New York City in the past 10 years, speeding remains the number one cause of collisions throughout the city. In 2012, speeding caused the greatest number of traffic deaths in New York City, taking the lives of more New Yorkers than drunk driving and distracted driving combined.

As a result, New York City police officers have increased the amount of tickets they issue throughout the year for speeding by as much as 25 percent so far in 2013. Recently, the NYPD wrote a total of 736 tickets during a citywide speeding enforcement crackdown during the second weekend of October alone.

Periodic ticketing blitzes and the overall increase in speeding tickets in 2013 may also be due in part to criticism of NYPD ticketing practices over the past few years. Law enforcement has been typically been lax with respect to speeding violations in the city, with for example, 88% of drivers in Brooklyn getting away with speeding according to one report.

In part because of a lack of enough officers on the road, ticketing is far more common for violations other than speeding in the city. For instance, the NYPD issued more tickets for riding a bike on a sidewalk than for speeding on surface streets in New York City last year, issuing around 25,000 citations for sidewalk riding as opposed to only 19,119 speeding tickets. With criticism of the NYPD’s recent failure to ticket any speeding drivers in two precincts in the city throughout the month of September, the 25 percent increase is sure to rise as ticketing blitzes for speeding become more common and enforcement more strict.

(Sources:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/speed-demons-running-wild-brooklyn-article-1.1501982#ixzz2jdNWwlx7
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/10/16/police-issued-more-than-700-tickets-in-weekend-speeding-crackdown/
http://www.streetsblog.org/2013/07/09/nypd-issues-more-tickets-for-sidewalk-riding-than-speeding-on-local-streets)

Speeding Ignored in Brooklyn Neighborhoods

English: Looking north across 7th Ave and Linc...
7th Ave and Lincoln Pl in Park Slope, Brooklyn, one of the neighborhoods where zero speeding tickets were handed out this September. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As New York Daily News reports, this past September, not a single speeding ticket was handed out in certain neighborhoods, including Red Hook, Cobble Hill, Carrol Gardens, Gowanus and Park Slope, located within the 76th and 78th precincts of New York City.

Unfortunately, the complete absence of speeding citations does not correlate to unusually safe driving in those neighborhoods. Rather, three fatal pedestrian accidents occurred this year in those areas and residents continue to claim that spotting speeding drivers throughout the 76th and 78th precincts is a common occurrence.

Nor can the dearth of speeding tickets be attributed to police officers’ unawareness of speeding in those areas. In contrast to the 76th and 78th precincts, police officers patrolling the neighboring 77th Precinct pulled over 77 drivers for speeding in the same timeframe. A bit further off, 45 drivers were ticketed for speeding in September in the 94th Precinct. Moreover, efforts by the Department of Transportation, such as removing a lane of car traffic from speedways in an attempt to calm traffic, make it clear that speeding in the city remains a concern.

However, with drivers who, over time, become accustomed to any changes made to the roadway itself to derail speeding, citations by police officers remain the strongest deterrents to speeding in the city. Perhaps that is why year-to-date speeding tickets are up 25%, despite the lack of any speeding citations issued in September.