Blaz pushes to expand speed cams

Speed cameras would save more lives if they were in operation round the clock, Mayor de Blasio said Tuesday.

“We’re appealing today to New York state to the Legislature to help us do more,” the mayor said at a press briefing. To help us save lives. Help us with the most fundamental step, which is taking what works. “Speed cameras — they work.” A state law passed in 2019 allowed the city to expand the number of cameras — but limited their operating hours to between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. on weekdays.

The Department of Transportation said the cameras are effective, with speeding cut by more than 70% in the 750 school zones where they are posted and injuries down 17%.

On top of that, two-thirds of those who got a ticket for speeding in 2019 did not get another ticket by year’s end, officials said.

But the mayor’s wish to extend speed camera hours might hit red lights in Albany. Speed camera legislation has long been contentious, and the cameras were shut down for a time in mid-2018 because of objections by the state Senate, then led by Republicans.

The 2019 law expanding the cameras’ use came from a Legislature entirely controlled by Democrats — who still sought to limit how they are used.

Cameras have issued about 1½ times as many tickets in 2020 as in 2019, said Edwin Pincar, a top city Department of Transportation official.

Despite the cameras, overall traffic fatalities are up in 2020 — though the number of pedestrian and bicycling deaths is down, city data shows.

Traffic fatalities stand at 238 so far this year, compared with 215 for all of 2019. A spike in motorcycle deaths accounts for nearly all the increase, the numbers show. Forty-nine people have died in motorcycle crashes this year. That’s more than double the 23 killed in motorcycle crashes in 2019.

Pedestrian deaths are down 18% this year, to 98, from 119 last year. Fatalities involving bicyclists are also down 18%, to 23 from 28 in 2019.

Three-quarters of all traffic fatalities have happened at times when speeding cameras were turned off, Pincar said.

“To address the disturbing trend of speeding we need New York city’s speed cameras to be on at all times,” he said. NYPD Chief of Transportation Kim Royster said police will step up DWI and speeding enforcement during the holiday season.