According to a recent article, NYPD traffic data shows that there have been 4,756 speeding summonses issued in the borough of Staten Island through September of this year. This is compared with 2,412 summonses issued through the first nine months of 2013, a 97% increase!
As the article mentions, “tickets issued for disobeying street signage in 2014 are also forecast to climb about 50% in Staten Island as well.”
The NYPD has credited this rise in citations to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative. This initiative is focused on improving the safety of New York Streets for both drivers and pedestrians. It has been called “the City’s foundation for ending traffic deaths and injuries on our streets.”
To achieve Vision Zero’s goals, the NYPD is increasing enforcement of traffic law, improving street designs and configurations, and launching a broad public outreach and communication campaign.
Ticket blitzes have been a common tool in the NYPD’s arsenal to combat traffic infringements. So has the increased use of school zone speed cameras. While controversial, 20 of these cameras have issued over 100,000 speeding tickets.
The city also enacted a new default speed limit, 25 MPH. NYPD Chief of Transportation Thomas Han has stated that this new limit would not be utilized as a method to exploit drivers, and officers were instructed to ‘use discretion.’ How that discretion is used is another issue which is bound to cause additional controversy over this program.
While it is clear that the primary stated goal of these new laws is desirable, saving lives, how they work in practice remains to be seen.
If you have received a speeding ticket in Staten Island or anywhere else in New York State, contact the experienced attorneys of Rosenblum Law at 888-434-0406 for a free consultation to discuss your rights.