As the Big Apple continues to deteriorate and violent crime rises, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has declared war on drivers by extending the city’s speed camera program to work 24/7 while simultaneously collecting millions of dollars in income for the city.
The city originally ran its 2,000 speed cameras throughout 750 school zones from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, but in June, the state legislature of New York enacted legislation allowing the city to extend its program to run around-the-clock.
Two pedestrians have died after the camera switches were “flipped.” In the Inwood section of Manhattan on Wednesday, a BMW automobile collided with another vehicle. Then, the second automobile collided with two parked vehicles, killing two men, ages 31 and 32. Which of the automobiles struck them is unknown.
While the city issued more than 1.2 million infractions in the first four months of 2022, totaling $61.3 million in fines, some opponents still argue that automated speed enforcement is an overreach of the government or a sly way to raise money.
The fight against speeding comes as the NYPD reported this week that the number of murders and other violent crimes in the city increased by 40% in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2021.
New York began using speed cameras to police traffic laws in 2014. According to municipal authorities, since the program started, average speeding infractions at camera locations have decreased by 72%.
According to data from the city’s Department of Transportation, injuries have decreased overall in school speed zone corridors with cameras by 14%.
But in recent years, New York has struggled with an increase in traffic deaths, which increased during the epidemic as deserted streets encouraged reckless speeding.
During 2020, 54 percent of traffic-related deaths in the camera zones took place when cameras were required to be switched off overnight and on weekends, the city say
According to a city study on the program, New York City issued a total of 4,397,375 notices of responsibility from speed cameras in 2020, potentially raising more than $219 million in penalties.
The citations produced by speed cameras are mailed to the vehicle’s registered owner and do not contain the driver’s name. They do not result in penalty points being added to a driver’s license, unlike citations given by traffic officers.
There are no further fines for repeat offenders, and the maximum fine for the citations is $50. This summer, a state bill that would have raised the punishment for repeat offenders was defeated.
However, if a registered owner of a vehicle receives 15 or more camera citations in a year, they may be obliged to attend a safe driving course.
Every speed camera is preceded by a sign warning of photo enforcement, however the city does not identify or map the locations of the cameras.
Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, the automated speed enforcement program was introduced for the first time in 2014.
Prior to moving to a 6am to 10pm schedule in 2019, the cameras ran from 7am to 5pm originally.
The DOT installed around 60 new cameras every month last year, continuing the steady increase in the number of cameras.
Adams said he was in support of increasing the number of speed cameras in the city as the system operated nonstop this week.
I won’t be content until there are no more fatalities and accidents. Therefore, he remarked, “We’re going to keep pushing to get beyond school zones.”
“Technology works, so I don’t see why we’re afraid of it… The mayor said, “There’s a big loophole in the tickets: don’t speed.
Following the federal Transportation Department’s endorsement of speed cameras as part of the National Roadway Safety Strategy in January, New York has increased the use of speed camera enforcement.
After his agency released the proposal, which is supported by $5 billion in federal subsidies over the following five years, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg faced some criticism.
An query regarding whether the speed camera program in New York City is funded by federal money through the program was not immediately answered by the city’s department of transportation.
Concerned driver advocacy organizations reacted cautiously to the federal initiative to expand the use of speed cameras nationwide.
According to a spokeswoman for the American Automobile Association, “speed cameras can successfully lower excessive speeds and address valid concerns about equality in traffic enforcement.”
‘That said, to get these benefits from this technology, governments who implement them should take care to do so thoughtfully and use data to guide decision making relative to where there is a legitimate safety need for them,’ the group added.
Eight US states now have laws that expressly forbid speed cameras.
Only 18 states and the District of Columbia have laws that explicitly permit the deployment of speed cameras, whereas the remaining states do not have such laws.
According to Buttigieg’s concept, speed camera pilot projects might deliver more ‘equitable’ enforcement than police traffic stops because the cameras won’t be able to tell if a driver is white or black.
The initiative is being driven by a dramatic rise in road deaths over the previous three years.
According to Buttigieg, government figures indicate that road deaths would continue to rise until the third quarter of 2021.
These figures indicate a significant rise in fatalities compared to the same period in 2020, adding to the 20,160 traffic fatalities recorded in the first half of the year, which was already the highest half-year total since 2006.