Metro

Safety forced! Speeds recede

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Take the pedal off the metal if you’re planning to drive through the Corona section of Queens.

Or the Inwood section of Manhattan. Or 12 other neighborhoods around the city for that matter.

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday announced that 14 communities across the city will be designated as “Neighborhood Slow Zones” where the speed limit will be reduced from 30 to 20 miles per hour.

With a record low number of 243 traffic fatalities recorded here last year, the mayor said the city intends to upgrade pedestrian safety at every opportunity even if that distresses some motorists.

The move follows a pilot program in the Claremont section of The Bronx that was deemed a success and that will be included along with 13 newly designated safety zones.

“There’s always been somebody against every single thing,” declared the mayor, while announcing the program in Corona at the triangle of 39th Avenue, 99th Street and Roosevelt Avenue.

“I’m not prepared to sit here and let our citizens die without doing everything we can to make their lives safer and better, and we’ll do that,” he said of the traffic project.

Two neighborhood residents watching the mayor’s press conference called the intersection very dangerous.

Across the street from where he was speaking, a cross on a steel fence marked the spot where neighbors said a cab killed someone last year.

The Corona “slow zone” covers about 35 square blocks that experience some 33 vehicle-related injuries a year, officials said.

Bright blue signs will alert drivers that they’re entering a speed-restricted area, as will “20 MPH” notices painted in eight-foot-long letters on the streets. Enforcement won’t be difficult since 14 new speed humps will slow down traffic.

Communities have to apply for the designation. City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras (D-Queens) said her constituents were eager for Corona to make the cut because it has lots of kids and seniors who need protection from fast and furious drivers.

“Drivers tend to get right off the highway [Grand Central Parkway] and keep up aggressive speeds in this area,” she said.

Councilman James Vacca (D-Bronx), chair of the Transportation Committee, said the single biggest complaint he gets these days is that “people are driving too fast.”

“People want four-way stop signs. They want speed bumps. They want something to slow down traffic,” said Vacca. “When I drive, people will be behind me beeping their horns. I’m doing 30 miles an hour. What are you beeping me for?”