On Staten Island, some drivers covered speed cameras with flowers. In this totally fabricated photo, we see Ydanis Rodriguez celebrating the cameras with a floral tribute.
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Academics are confirming what we and the city Department of Transportation have been saying all along: speed cameras work.
A new study from the National Academy of Sciences is a slam dunk for everyone who supports automated enforcement cameras because they "lead to persistent and sustained reductions in crashes."
The report focused solely on New York's camera program, the nation's largest. So let's dig in. According to the report:
cameras reduce collisions and injuries by an average of 5 percent and 2.5 percent per month on average, respectively
collectively over the seven months following the introduction of a camera, collisions declined by 30 percent and injuries by 16 percent. That could explain why reported crashes dropped from 88,613 over the first 11 months of 2023 to 77,855 over the same period this year. And injuries are down from 49,747 to 45,421.
the number of tickets drop dramatically as people start driving more slowly, revealing that "effective deterrence does not require harsh penalties," the report stated: "Violations spiked immediately following activation, then declined rapidly — a 26.5-percent drop from the first to second month and a 47.7-percent drop from baseline by the fifth month." As the graphic shows:
That decline in speeding is crucial because the likelihood that a pedestrian will be killed doubles when struck by a car traveling 30 miles-per-hour compared to 25 miles-per-hour.
It's not the first time we've seen data like this from smart people. In 2023, thanks to data visualizations made by Jehiah Czebotar, we were able to more or less draw the same conclusion as the triumvirate of scholars on the National Academy of Sciences report, Aaron Stagoff- Belforta, Jonathan Ben- Menachemb and Brenden Beck.
In 2019, we also reported that crashes were down after the hours of speed camera operation increased.
When Suffolk erred.
Funny thing is, lots of jurisdictions still don't like speed cameras. As Kevin Duggan reported last year, Suffolk County got rid of its camera program even though it was showing the same kind of results as New York's program.
Ah, well, maybe the suburbs will reconsider.
In other news:
Amazon's non-Amazon workforce is unionizing rather than waiting for the City Council to help. (Queens Eagle)
Cops arrested the driver who they say killed Herb Henry Alesna on the Washington Bridge last year. (NY Post)
The Daily News, the Post and the Daily Mail got more information about Wendy Davis, the 60-year-old pedestrian and "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" star who was mowed down by a Cadillac driver in Midtown on Monday.
The DOT put out a press release celebrating the "rare" chance this Sunday to celebrate a car-free stretch of Fifth Avenue near the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and we almost bit ... until we remembered that the DOT made this gift much rarer last year, by reducing the fun to just one Sunday. Still, amNY took the bait.
As expected, Oonee CEO Shabazz Stuart filed a formal protest to the DOT selection process that led the agency to choose a different company to install secure bike parking pods. Insert popcorn-eating emoji here! (Oonee press release)
Amtrak is boasting that its work on the East River tunnel is ahead of schedule. (NYDN)
From the Assignment Desk: The DOT is actually doing this "blue highways" freight thing. On Thursday at noon, DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez and some Economic Development Corporation bigs will gather at Manhattan's Pier 79 to start a pilot program of moving freight on the river between that dock and the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. And there will be DutchX cargo bikes. We'll be there.
And, finally, the Met disaster continues and Hell Gate had a solid take that Steve Cohen only cared about his casino. But only the Post played it dead-on right on the wood:
