Not so fast!
Mayor de Blasio wants to put the brakes on lead-footed New Yorkers by knocking down the citywide speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph — part of a sweeping plan to reduce pedestrian deaths.
The initiative will also focus on precinct-level enforcement and creating safer patterns.
“It’s about each of us taking greater responsibility every time we get behind the wheel or step out on the street,” de Blasio said as he unveiled the plan dubbed “Vision Zero” for ending pedestrian deaths.
An interagency task force that has been studying the streets for a month came up with a number of recommendations:
- Reducing the speed limit, an action that requires state approval. City officials said the likelihood of a fatal crash declines significantly for speeds below 30 mph.
- Expanding the Use of Speed and Red Light Enforcement Cameras. Currently the city can deploy red-light cameras at 150 intersections and speed-enforcement cameras at 20 intersections, in a city with more than 6,000 miles of streets.
- Installing 250 speed bumps and enhance lighting at 1,000 intersections.
- Upgrading enforcement with advanced speed- detection equipment and improved training.
“We want everyone who gets behind the wheel of a vehicle to think carefully about the situation they’re in in the densest city in the nation,” de Blasio said.
“We want pedestrians to think carefully. This is very much about raising consciousness and changing behaviors.”
Eleven New Yorkers have already been killed in traffic accidents in the first two weeks of 2014, including seven pedestrians.
De Blasio’s action plan appears to shift the focus on drivers and enforcement and away from jaywalkers, who were targeted in an ill-fated ticket blitz just weeks ago.
“It is pretty much everything the advocacy community has been asking for,” said Keegan Stephan, an activist with the group Right of Way, who wanted to see an even lower speed limit.
“And I’m especially grateful that de Blasio focused on the personal responsibility of drivers.”
Pedestrians in Midtown said they would welcome the changes.
“I think it’s good,” said Bill Delarosa, 53, of Brooklyn. “It will protect people from getting hurt.
“I’d feel safer if the speed limit is reduced as a pedestrian, but as a driver, I’m a very cautious driver and I don’t normally go over 20, 25 anyway,” said Mickey Dixon, 35, an auditor from Brooklyn. “Overall, I think it’s a good thing.”
Additional reporting by Rebecca Harshbarger and Priscilla DeGregory