Waiting for Raymond: New Yorkers Want Zero Tolerance for Speeding
Have a look at the un-scientific poll nested inside Michael Daly's excellent Daily News column on speeding enforcement (penned in response to the case of Eric Hakimisefat, the 16-year-old un-licensed driver who killed a passenger after reaching 63 mph on a Midwood street and crashing into a tree). Currently, two-thirds of respondents think that all speeding is wrong.
And yet, out on the streets, nearly 40 percent of motorists are speeding, while enforcement is nearly non-existent. Our police commissioner (by many accounts the most important living New Yorker) responds to calls for speeding enforcement by, essentially, tossing up his hands.
Here's Daly's take on the speeding epidemic:
We have had zero tolerance for public drinking and urination. Why not zero tolerance for driving more than 30 mph in the city streets?
Every few days, we witness some new traffic tragedy, and too often we shrug. We were all horrified when we learned that the medical examiner's office had retained a young car- accident victim's brain without the family's consent. The wreck that made him a candidate for an autopsy barely reached public attention.
Often when a motorist or a pedestrian or a bicyclist is killed by a speeder, the culprit escapes even a ticket because velocity after the fact can be hard to establish. Velocity as calculated by the speedometer of a trailing police car or a radar gun is a snap.
Take it from me. I used the speedometer on my wife's car to catch then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani going 70 mph after he announced a supposed crackdown on speeding back in 1998.
Let's have a real crackdown now.
Because speeding is so pervasive and NYPD's resources are limited, to really crack down on it, NYC will need camera enforcement. Which means we need Albany to get moving on a speed camera bill. In the last legislative session, the state legislature made an unusual amount of progress on livable streets measures like bus lane enforcement, Hayley and Diego's law, and smart growth, but Deborah Glick's speed camera bill didn't go far. Maybe in the next session, lawmakers who care about street safety can get this life-saving legislation passed.
Imagine how much easier their job would be if Ray Kelly and NYPD start making the case to the public that speeding has got to stop.
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog New York City
Analysis: ‘Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program’ is a Failure By All Measures
The Department of Transportation wants the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program to simply expire in part because it did not dramatically improve safety among these worst-of-the-worst drivers and led to a tiny number of vehicle seizures.
School Bus Driver Kills Cyclist in Boro Park, 24th Bike Death of 2023
Luis Perez-Ramirez, 44, was biking south on Fort Hamilton Parkway just before 3:15 p.m. when he was struck a by school bus driver making a right turn.
‘Betrayal’: Adams Caves to Opposition, Abandons Bus Improvement Plan on Fordham Road
The capitulation on Fordham Road is the latest episode in which the mayor has delayed or watered down a transportation project in deference to powerful interests.
Friday’s Headlines: Yes He Said Yes He Will Yes Edition
That headline above is a reference to the last line of James Joyce's Ulysses, which we won't pretend to have read. But we have that ... and other news.
Madness: Port Authority Will Spend $8.3M to ‘Study’ Widening Outerbridge Crossing
Will this $8.3 million find out anything we don't know about induced demand?
