NYC needs to really run its own speed cameras

Why does the Albany legislature dictate how pace cameras function on the Large Apple?
Dennis A. Clark

Let’s give one weak cheer for Albany Dems: They’re truly going to let New York Metropolis use its pace cameras to catch speeders.

Mayor Eric Adams is hailing the Legislature’s provide as an enormous win, nevertheless it leaves so much to be desired. The invoice extends the town’s speed-cam program one other three years and lets cameras function 24/7 (as an alternative of being shut off from 10 p.m. to six a.m., as now).

That final is significant. Knowledge analyzed by information web site The Metropolis confirms that 41% of collisions occur in a single day and on weekends, and 60% of all deadly crashes. Extra: 71% of in-vehicle fatalitiesand 40% of pedestrian fatalities in 2022 so farhappened when the cameras had been by regulation non-operational. 

And final yr was the town’s deadliest site visitors yr since 2014, with virtually 300 fatalities — and a spate of horrific current incidents recommend the carnage is rising.

But this invoice does nothing to deal with a core drawback: that the Legislature controls these cameras in any respect. 

Rushing and automotive crashes are native issues that demand native management. But to make modifications — like, say, getting its red-light cameras to additionally run 24/7, which this invoice doesn't cope with — the mayor should nonetheless go hat in hand to Albany and beg for permission. It’s past absurd. 

Mayor Eric Adams pleaded to Albany on operating its pace cameras 24/7 whereas pedestrian deaths skyrocketed.

Gabriella Bass

Plus, a mere three-year extension all however assures the cams will stay a bargaining chip. Albany is preening over saving lives even because it ensures that state lawmakers will carry on enjoying video games with them.