Traffic Enforcement

Update: WNYC reports that the pedestrian killed at Atlantic Avenue and 85th Street has been identified as William Guevara-Delgado, 26, of Woodhaven.

Ask a Greenpoint resident to name the neighborhood's most dangerous street, and they'll likely point to McGuinness Boulevard, an infamous speedway that splits the neighborhood in half. Today, it became the city's third "arterial slow zone" to receive a 25 mph speed limit, retimed traffic signals to discourage speeding, and focused enforcement.

Local elected officials and advocates joined NYC DOT and NYPD this morning to unveil the city's second "arterial slow zone" on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, where speed limits will be dropped to 25 mph and traffic signals will be retimed to discourage speeding.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton's memo ordering precincts to focus on dangerous jaywalking offenses looks like a positive sign, but it still directs officers to write out citations in a way that ensures many won't be heard in court.

Since being turned on in mid-January, New York City's limited speed camera program -- five cameras near schools, turned on only during weekday school hours -- have caught 14,500 drivers hitting at least 40 mph as of Tuesday, according to DOT. After 15 more cameras come online later this spring, the city will have reached its state-imposed cap on cameras. To bring speeding under control on most of the city's 6,000 miles of streets, though, it's up to Albany to let NYC run a much more substantial automated enforcement program.

As drivers zoomed by on Atlantic Avenue this morning, local elected officials and advocates joined NYC DOT and NYPD to unveil the first of the city's "arterial slow zones," major streets where the speed limit will be dropped to 25 mph from the current citywide limit of 30 mph. Traffic signals will also be retimed to a 25 mph progression, to help keep motorists' speeds in check.

Vox, the much-anticipated Ezra Klein/Matt Yglesias reporting venture, launched earlier this week to wide fanfare, and one of the first articles explained that "traffic deaths are way, way down" in the United States.

Governor Andrew Cuomo's top aide said this morning that the governor is committed to signing a bill to expand the number of New York City school zone speed cameras before the end of April. The firm stance comes after a plan to expand the number of speed cams in NYC stalled during budget negotiations.

The Daily News reports that traffic deaths and injuries are down over the first three months of 2014 compared to the same period last year. The improvement is encouraging, and increased traffic enforcement is probably playing a role, but the harsh winter is almost certainly a factor too.