Drivers will now have to slow it down on Riverside Drive, as a new speed limit has been put in place to decrease traffic fatalities, the city has announced.
The speed limit on Riverside Drive, from 165th Street to 181st Street, is now reduced from 30 MPH to 25 MPH, according to the New York City Department of Transportation.
The eight other streets affected in the four other boroughs cover more than 25 miles and include Flatbush Avenue (Brooklyn), Bruckner Boulevard (Bronx), Northern Boulevard (Queens) and Targee Street (Staten Island). They are some of the city’s main thoroughfares and are regularly used by bicyclists and pedestrians.
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Speed limit reductions and installing more speed-cameras near school zones are part of Vision Zero, Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s initiative to decrease speeding, and cyclist and pedestrian deaths. The city also announced today that it also reached its objective of activating speed-cameras in all 750 school zones, claiming that it is the largest speed-camera network in the world, the city said in a press release on its website.
“With more cameras installed in 2020 than in the first six years of the program combined, DOT is continuously working to make our streets safer,” Trottenberg also said in her tweet.
These efforts come after COVID-19 has seen an increase of reckless driving due in part to less crowded streets, the city also said.
Approximately 3,000 New Yorkers are seriously injured and more than 200 are killed each year in traffic crashes, and being struck by a vehicle is the leading cause of injury-related death for children under 14, and the second leading cause for seniors, according to city statistics.
For a complete listing of streets affected by the new speed limits, click here.
Lee Uehara is not only a journalist and documentary-style photographer, she is also the host of the podcast, House of Lee NYC. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and many other news outlets through her work as a former reporter for The Associated Press. You can usually spot her in the neighborhood walking her dog with a camera in hand. Visit HouseOfLeeNYC.com and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
This is an inane response by a Traffic Commissioner who does not understand drivers and pedestrians. While there is a casual link between speed and accidents, there is also a casual link between driver over-reliance on the new “safety” features in cars and accidents. Neither of these links are causal, they are casual.
This will be ineffectual and similar to the 5-7 second delay in traffic lights which now cause everyone standing at an intersection to wonder when the sign will change and trying to figure out whether to cross or not.
This change and speed cameras are NOT there for safety, they are, pure and simply, revenue generators.
What a joke… not enforceable. What about all the racing motorcycles all day and night on the UWS? Nobody cares….
WileyDog, The facts as backed by enormous scientific evidence are that speed cameras and lower speed limits DO save lives and reduce injuries. See this from the CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/calculator/factsheet/speed.html
There are many other studies that reach similar conclusions. Please do not disparage dogs with your lack of intelligence. WileySlug is more appropriate.
Yes and if the speed limits are reduced to zero, then no one will die, right? You are probably a moronic trumster the way you call names right away. This clearly demonstrates your lack of integrity and ethics. Get a life.