Speed cameras will be operational five days a week, all year long. (NYC DOT)
July 8, 2019 By Laura Hanrahan
A robust citywide expansion of the school zone speed camera network is underway, with the Department of Transportation aiming to add thousands of cameras across all five boroughs in an attempt to curb dangerous driving near the city’s schools.
Starting later this week, the new cameras, as well as the existing ones, will be switched on for roughly twice as long each day.
The DOT has declined to disclose where the new cameras are going up. However, the agency has said that it is prioritizing those school zones with the highest crash rates and areas known for speeding.
Beginning on July 11, all installed cameras will be in operation every weekday from 6 am to 10 pm, all year-round. Previously, the school zone cameras were operated at variable hours, only being able to issue summonses to drivers during the hours that a given school was open. DOT has estimated that the extension will double the overall number of hours the cameras are active.
The launch of the lengthened hours comes as the DOT begins its rapid build out of the camera network, dramatically expanding on its five-year pilot program that covered 140 of the most dangerous school zones throughout the city.
The $62 million expansion will ensure that all 750 school zones citywide are covered by speed cameras.
Drivers caught on camera going more than 10 miles per hour above the speed limit in a school zone will be hit with a $50 ticket, mailed to the registered owner of the car. DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg has said that she expects the speed camera program to pay for itself through these fines. From the existing 140 speed cameras alone, $44 million in revenue was brought in last year.
DOT began the wave of installations earlier this year with a camera near P.S. 199 on the Upper West Side. Another covering P.S 234, P.S, 89, I.S. 289, and Stuyvesant High School in Tribeca was installed late last month. Each month for the rest of the year, 40 cameras will be installed in various school zones across the city. In 2020, the number will increase to a whopping 60 per month.
The city expects every school zone to have at least one camera by June 2020, but many zones will eventually have two or three.
“We need to make sure our roads are safe for all New Yorkers, especially for those that are the most vulnerable,” said Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Chair of the Transportation Committee. “I thank all the work that DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and the State legislature has done to ensure that our children are kept out of harms way with this massive increase in speed cameras around schools. I will continue to work alongside Speaker Corey Johnson, my colleagues, and advocates to ensure we continue to bring road security to all of New York City.”
The pilot program, launched in 2013, proved successful in saving lives, according to the DOT. During the five year run, the DOT reported a 60 percent drop in speeding infractions in school zones where the cameras had been installed, as well as a 21 percent decline in the number of people killed or severely injured in crashes in the zones.
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16 Comments
Sounds like a money hungry plan to me. The best way to save lives is to teach kids physics early in life! If something is travelling really fast and it hits you, it’ll effin hurt! And also look both ways before crossing the street!
Give out tix to all the reckless cyclists armstronging it thru Sunnyside. Will help pay for the cameras, based on how few follow the rules. Maybe TA, Twits and Aholes, can spend some time reminding bikers of their obligation to follow the rules of the road….
Haha most vulnerable? Why was there led in the water for years!? NYC is just desperate for money.
Okay let’s see who hates this idea.
I can venture a guess. Rhymes with my name and tends to hold rallies against street safety on significant dates like the day the school zone speed cameras expired and the international day of rememberance for victims of traffic violence, spread hearsay and falsehoods to inspire anger and hatred in our community.
Correct, a quick view of the Queens Streets Facebook page shows a post complaining about a supposed camera or sensor being installed near PS 150. What awful people.
And your post of “the worst” and “awful” people isn’t angry and hateful?
No. Why would it be anything other than descriptive?
Maybe you should stop “watching” and look inward at what you’ve done to make others describe you (or perhaps people you agree with) that way?
Yeah from 6AM-10PM…. sounds like the city is desperate for some more money!!!
You must ask why those times…
Teachers have more and more to do with less and less time to do it in… Our weekends are destroyed.
More and more of us either get there really early (yes, I do mean 6am for some of us) and stay late. Some of us stay until we are kicked out of the building due to no administrator being present.
And to top it all off… Many of us don’t have cars so we have to walk/take mass transit.
This is all about money! Speed bumps are very effective but they don’t bring in revenue.
Follow the money$$$
I say after three speeding tickets… A boot.
Where are the crossing guards…I haven’t seen many kids being run over in school zones in my whole 61 years living in New York..How about enforcing for adults too..ITS CALLED SQUAD CARS WITH RADAR,AND MAKE THE ACTUAL DRIVER PAY INSURANCE HIKE WHEN CAUGHT..AS IT STANDS NOW,THEY FINE YOUR LICENSE PLATE AND ONLY HOLD REG.AT RISK..START FINING THE D.L.NUMBER OF ACUAL PERSON..COPS NEED TO ENFORCE,THEY ARE PAID WELL OVER 100 K NOW FOR DOING JACK . GET THEM IN SCHOOL ZONES AND ALL,ALL STREETS..WHY NOT???LETS BE REAL HERE..THIS AIN’T THE DANGEROUS 60s,70s or 80s.
You seem like a very stable genius.
Third time, they get a boot.
Hope this applies to school bus drivers too. This afternoon a large yellow school bus blew past me on Skillman @ 44th St. going way over the speed limit.