Traveling on our streets shouldn’t mean putting your life at risk. 

My proposals would make our streets safer for everybody.

Smart regulations, well-designed streets and transit investments can create a transportation system that makes it safer and easier for New Yorkers to get to school, work, and everywhere else.

Letting NYC Set Its Own Speed Limits

It’s absurd: New York City’s speed limits are controlled by politicians hundreds of miles away in Albany.

The consequences have been deadly. By giving New York City the ability to set speed limits on its streets, we create an important tool for making streets safer and reducing traffic deaths.

That’s why I’m a proud supporter of Sammy’s Law, named in honor of 12-year-old Sammy Cohen Eckstein, who was killed by a driver just steps away from his Brooklyn home in 2013.

We know that higher speed limits create deadlier streets: a person hit by a car traveling 35 mph is five times more likely to die than a person hit by a car traveling 20 mph. This bill would give New York City more power to set our own speed limits, enabling the city to set safer speeds near schools, senior centers, dangerous intersections, and other places.

Making Intersections Safer

We’re facing a traffic safety crisis on our streets. In 2021, 45% of all traffic fatalities in the city happened at intersections. And the problem is getting worse: in the first nine months of 2023, red-light tickets increased 35% from the same period in 2019.

The logic behind red-light cameras is simple: most drivers don’t run red lights. And those drivers, along with everyone else, are safer when the ones who do are held accountable.

Pedestrian injury crashes at intersections with red light cameras fell to 130 in 2020, compared to an average of 208 in the three years before cameras were installed, a 37.5% drop. But crashes that injured motorists at those same intersections dropped to 799 from an astoundingly high average of 1,481, a drop of 46%. In other words, motorists saw the greatest safety benefit of anyone on the road.

These statistics are not just numbers. Each fatality represents a previous life lost, like that of 18-year-old Shanti Joyner, a mom who was killed on Atlantic Avenue when a man sped through a red light and t-boned the car in which she was traveling.

Right now, the City’s Department of Transportation operates these cameras at just 1% of the city’s 13,500 intersections. The number of red-light violations at those 150 intersections has declined by over 77% since the cameras were installed in 1994. T-bone crashes like the one that killed Shanti fell 58% at intersections with cameras compared to the three-year period before cameras were installed. 

If we found the antidote to a deadly illness, would we give it to only 1% of patients? Of course not. That’s why I’ve introduced legislation to expand the cameras to 1,325 intersections citywide, so more New Yorkers are safe on our streets, whether they’re traveling by foot, bike, wheelchair, or motor vehicle.

Three decades of data makes it clear: red light cameras reduce crashes and change driver behavior.

Slowing Down Serial Speeders

Excessive speed plays a role in about one-third of all traffic deaths, roughly the same percentage as crashes involving drunk drivers. A person hit by a car traveling 35 mph is five times more likely to die than a person hit by a car traveling 20 mph.

New York State requires an “ignition interlock device” in the vehicle of anyone convicted of drunk driving, a law passed after an 11-year-old was killed by an intoxicated driver. These breathalyzers connect to the vehicle’s engine and prevent someone from starting the car if they’ve been drinking. 

It’s time we take a similar approach with repeated, reckless speeding. That’s why I’ve introduced legislation requiring Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) technology for drivers that repeatedly put lives at risk.

Also known as “speed limiters” or “governors,” these devices do a simple thing: prevent vehicles from speeding. They’re already standard issue in new vehicles sold in Europe, and the federal National Safety Transportation Board has recommended the same in the United States. 

My legislation would require the installation of ISA technology on the vehicles of drivers that accumulate 11 or more points on their license in an 18-month period, or that receive six speed camera or red-light camera tickets in a year. The devices would prevent drivers from traveling more than 5 mph over the local speed limit.

That represents a small fraction of total drivers on the road, but it would have an outsize impact on safety. The mandate would last for one year, ensuring serial speeders change their behavior to be in line with a vast majority of other drivers.

We know this technology works. One report found speed limiters reduced traffic deaths by 37% in the UK. When New York City instituted an ISA pilot program for municipal vehicles, hard-braking incidents dropped 36%, and vehicles followed the speed limit 99% of the time.

When people drive drunk, we put a device in cars to prevent it from happening again. When people repeatedly speed, we should use similar technology to stop that, too. This legislation will impact relatively few drivers, but it has the potential to save countless lives.

Cracking Down on License Plate Fraud

License plate cameras ensure our streets are safe by stopping drivers from speeding and running red lights, while also offering an efficient way to collect tolls that fund critical investments in our roads, airports, and transit system.

But some drivers take advantage of the system by defacing their license plates to avoid driving safely or paying their fair share. New York City has lost as much as $75 million in toll revenue in recent years because of defaced plates. And the problem getting worse: the number of unreadable license plates more than tripled from 2016 to 2021, a jump that correlated with a spike in traffic deaths.

We have to stop this dangerous, illegal practice. That’s why I’ve introduced legislation that would curb license plate abuse by allowing the state to suspend the registration of any vehicle caught with a covered or defaced plate. My bill also increases the penalty for attempting to dodge automatic traffic enforcement, to ensure dangerous drivers are held accountable and our streets are safe for everyone.