Trade Group Representing Yellow Cab Owners Endorses 20 MPH Bill [Updated]

For over 60 years, MTBOT has made safety a priority for the thousands of drivers it represents and the millions of passengers they serve. That is why we strongly support Int. 535, a life-saving measure that would reduce the speed limit from 30 mph to 20 mph exclusively on residential side streets, making the City safer for our drivers, passengers and neighbors.

This important bill should not be used as an excuse to target drivers for tickets, but rather it should bring all New Yorkers together for a common goal, to make our streets safer, especially for our children and elderly residents. Research shows that 20 mph residential speed limits work -- including in London and Tokyo, where reduced speed limits have cut the number of fatal crashes on residential streets by as much as half.

It’s time New York joined other major cities in passing this sensible, life-saving legislation. MTBOT calls upon the Department of Transportation to support Int. 535 and make our streets safer for all New Yorkers.

It is really a misrepresentation of MTBOT's intention and position to say that we are "simply acknowledging that crashes are detrimental to the taxi business." This is a human issue, not a business issue. I was in the back row at the City Council hearing yesterday. I'm a father. I live on a side street in New York CIty. MTBOT members have families. Their drivers have families. This affects all of us as humans first. No one could have walked away from that hearing, given the emotional testimony of a family who recently lost a child to an accident with a car, without being moved. We realized that we can do more than shed tears -- we can actually help, we can support the bill, we can work with advocates, we can work with the city council, we can raise awareness. So that's what we are looking to do -- that's a human reaction, not a business calculation.