Non Profits, City Officials Put Pressure On Lawmakers To OK Gov. Hochul’s ‘Stop Super Speeders’ Effort

Community organizations from The Bronx, a growing nexus of power in state politics, as well as two key New York City pols, are demanding that Gov. Hochul’s version of Stop Super Speeders Act to make it into the final state budget.

A coalition of groups in the long-neglected borough — including The Bronx Children’s Museum, The Point CDC, The Harlem River Coalition, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice and The Bronx River Alliance — sent a letter to the governor, as well as state legislative leaders, advocating for the proposal, which would allow the city of New York to install speed-limiting devices in the cars of repeatedly reckless drivers.

“The state budget represents the most effective mechanism to deliver immediate, life-saving change,” said the letter, which was mailed on Thursday. “Incorporating the ‘Stop Super Speeders Act’ into the final budget would allow New York to move quickly to implement Intelligent Speed Assistance technology for repeat, egregious speeders who pose an outsized risk to public safety.”

The letter also notes that pedestrians of color have a higher fatality rate than white walkers.

And two prominent politicians, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal (a former state senator) and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, wrote Heastie on April 1 advocating for the legislation to stay in the final budget.

“This is not a blanket mandate — it is a focused safety measure for the most dangerous drivers,” the letter said. “This is a fair and non-carceral solution to a real problem that impacts our communities.”

The speed-limiting devices prevent cars from exceeding a set speed, usually just a few miles per hour above the speed limit.

The program would operate as a New York City pilot under the discretion of city Department of Transportation and Mayor Zohran Mamdani. it could expand to the rest of the state depending on its success.

Details are scant on how the program would be administered; under the existing legislation S4045/A2299 by Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn) and Assembly Member Emily Gallagher (D-Brooklyn), speed-limiting devices could be ordered for drivers who had received six speed or red-light camera tickets during a 12-month period.

The Senate has included Gov. Hochul’s less-specific proposal in its one-house budget, but the Assembly did not (the chamber typically does not include budget language without a financial impact, but Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) has previously opposed versions of the legislation on the shaky grounds that it would impinge on motorists’ right to due process).

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his Brooklyn counterpart Eric Gonzalez have also written state leaders, arguing in support of the devices, which are more or less the same as ignition locks commonly installed on the cars repeat drunk drivers.

Nonetheless, Gounardes and Gallagher’s statewide bill has faced little support from lawmakers, virtually all of whom are driven or drive everywhere. During negotiations last year, the bill was amended to apply only to motorists who had been caught on speed cameras 16 times (the red-light tickets were excluded). The change meant the bill would affect fewer than 18,000 problem drivers rather than more than 150,000 as originally written.

Yet it never made it out of the Assembly Transportation Committee. It did pass the state Senate, though in its heavily amended form.

Now that the governor has prioritized the effort, albeit with unclear parameters, safe streets advocates are optimistic that the legislation will become law. But remain cautious until it’s over the finish line.

Hochul remains a strong champion for obvious reasons: “We know that a disproportionate number of dangerous incidents on our roads are caused by a small group of bad actors who speed recklessly and endanger everyone’s safety,” she said. “Now, we are taking on these super speeders … to end their fast and furious driving on our roads once and for all.”