ALBANY — In one of few victories for the street safety movement this session, the state legislature reauthorized New York City’s highly successful, 11-year, 750-school-zone, pioneering speed camera program until July 1, 2030 — with the Assembly approving the program on Tuesday, four days after the Senate.
All that remains is for Gov. Hochul to sign the bill, which she is expected to do before the cameras would be forced to go dark on July 1.
“This is possibly the most important street safety law on the books,” said Eric McClure, executive director of StreetsPAC, the livable streets political action committee, “so having to extend it five years and not having to worry about it every three years is really great news.”
How important? City data shows that severe traffic injuries declined nearly 30 percent at locations where speed cameras were recently installed. And a city report shows the cameras reduce crashes: One in four traffic fatalities involves speeding, and speeding has dropped by 94 percent at locations with cameras. The report found that 74 percent of drivers who received a violation did not get more than one more in 12 months — indicating that cameras work.
Yet despite the overwhelming success of the program, 22 Assembly Members and 21 Senators voted against it, as common-sense street safety measures are often seen as controversial to legislators who drive or are driven everywhere.
“The verdict came in a long time ago: speed cameras save lives and make our streets safer for everyone,” said Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-Bay Ridge), who sponsored and championed the bill. “But the true benefit is impossible to really measure: fewer New Yorkers — loved ones, friends and neighbors — needlessly killed in traffic crashes. At the end of the day, this is about keeping New Yorkers safe. I'm proud to have fought for this program from the beginning, and to renew it now for five years.”
City officials hailed the news of the passing — and knew who to thank.
"We want to acknowledge all the advocates — including Families for Safe
Streets — which successfully fought for this renewal," said Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. "And our special gratitude goes to Speaker Carl Heastie and Majority Leader Andrew Stewart-Cousins and the members of both houses who have so consistently supported the Adams administration’s hard-fought efforts to reach Vision Zero.”
As Streetsblog has reported, reauthorization of the speed camera program has never been a given. In 2018, Republican lawmakers blocked the reauthorization of the then-140-zone program. Then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo created a workaround to reinstate the cameras by executive order before the beginning of the school year, and the program was reauthorized by the legislature in 2019.
In 2022, Mayor Adams tried and failed to get city control over the system so the city would not have to rely on Albany to reauthorize it again and again. Albany electeds reauthorized the program, expanding it to the current 750 zones and allowing the cameras to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Gov. Hochul used the signing as a press opportunity.
Nonetheless, in the Senate, Sens. Monica Martinez (D-Suffolk), Siela Bynoe (D-Nassau) and Jessica Scarcella-Spanton (D-Staten Island) were the New York City area lawmakers who voted no.
We'll have more on the Assembly naysayers in our annual legislative roundup later this week. We will name names.
