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.

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.