NYC DOT Vision Zero
Oct. 8, 2019 By Allie Griffin
The city issued more than $10 million in speed camera violations in Queens alone in the first six weeks after the program’s expansion this summer.
During the first six weeks following the program’s July 11 expansion, the city mailed out more than 200,000 tickets to Queens drivers caught speeding in school zones — and more than 500,000 tickets across all five boroughs, according to city data.
At $50 a ticket, the city has made millions off the program’s massive expansion in less than two months.
The cameras take photos of drivers going more than 10 miles per hour above the speed limit in a school zone and then the city mails $50 violations to the registered owner of the car.
In Queens, drivers received 205,373 violations from July 11 to Aug. 22, according to the latest City data — that’s equal to $10,268,650 in less than two months.
For the year ending June 2019, drivers in Queens received 371,546 speed camera violations and paid $18,577,300 in fines. In just 43 days since the expansion launched, drivers in Queens have already paid more than half that amount.
In total, the city collected more than $28 million in the 43-day period or $455 per minute as the Staten Island Advance reported.
On July 11, the city began the program’s expansion to increase the number of school zones with cameras from 140 zones to 750 zones.
By the end of August, the number of school zones with cameras was at 360 and the Department of Transportation plans to install about 40 to 60 new speed cameras a month to increase the number of zones and reach its 750 goal by June 2020. There can be multiple cameras per zone.
In addition to the new cameras, the program expansion also mandated that speed cameras now operate year-round on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., including the summer and school breaks. That’s about double the program’s previous hours, in which cameras were only active during school hours.
The city first introduced speed cameras in 2013 with just 20 school zones. The next year, the state authorized the program to expand to 140 school zones.
The DOT says that the program has saved lives. From 2013 through 2018, the DOT reported a 60 percent drop in speeding infractions in school zones where the cameras had been installed. The agency also said there was a 21 percent decline in the number of people killed or severely injured in crashes within the zones.
The total cost of the massive expansion is $62 million and DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg has previously said she expects the program will pay for itself through the fines.
The original 140-zone speed camera program brought in $45 million in revenue in 2018. With more than $28 million already collected in less than two months since the expansion began, this year is likely to pass that number quickly.
Drivers in Queens received the second-most violations, behind drivers in Brooklyn, according to NYC Open Data. Queens was followed by the Bronx, Manhattan and then Staten Island. Together, Brooklyn and Queens account for nearly 75 percent of all speed camera violations.
While the DOT has not released where the speed cameras are installed, city data lists intersections where drivers have received speed camera violations.
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6 Comments
RIP OFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Not surprised at all, that motorists in both Queens and Brooklyn are constantly driving over the speed limit, even in school zones. What’s fascinating to me is how quickly traffic calms down in the mornings after school has started, in many of these areas — which leads a person to believe that it’s parents taking their kids to school in their family car (rather than having their kids walk, take a public bus or a school bus, or ride a bike) that cause a lot of the traffic headaches in the morning, which then results in angered motorists and reckless behavior on their part, including speeding. Poor decision making on the part of these adults.
Another rip off by the city, money before safety. If the city was really interested in safety they would clearly put signs on every block warning motorists of the new law, which they have not, just like when they don’t paint the 15 feet around fire hydrants.
It’s a lose/lose situation for the public, getting ripped off with no increase in safety since motorists are not aware of the law.
how is it not helping with safety? the cameras are catching the drivers who speed in those zones where children are. catching them and fining them. that will get them to slow down. there are already stop signs and speed bumps, yet some of these drivers dont care. so the cameras are helping at targeting only those speeders. it’s fining them and it’s going to the city, thats a win/win situation.
At the 2 locations in my area where they added the speed cameras, they have the speed limit sign with the “photo enforced” sign underneath right near the cameras.
I dont know if this applies to all of them, but seems like at least some locations do have a warning.
There is one in Astoria Blvd at 81 to 82nd street. There isn’t a school anywhere near there. It is obviously meant to catch people going 36 mph on Astoria Blvd. what a joke!