Photo Courtesy of Sen. Peralta’s Office
“Simply put, these bills are about protecting children. It is time we work together to save lives, to protect children,” Sen. Peralta said.
By Forum Staff
Neighborhood residents, traffic safety advocates, and elected officials on Friday gathered at 9th Street and 5th Avenue, an infamous Brooklyn intersection where a recent auto accident claimed the lives of a 20-month-old boy and 4-year-old girl, to renew calls for steps to be taken by legislative leaders to help ensure safer city streets.
“We stand united today for safety on our streets. We stand united today to honor the memory Joshua Lew, Abigail Blumenstein, and all the other children and adults who have lost their lives or been injured due to crashes,” said State Sen. Jesse Hamilton (D-Brooklyn). “Improved safety measures on our streetscapes will serve as one part of the solution. Another key part of the solution is legislation we have introduced in Albany – legislation that holds drivers accountable for violations and legislation that creates the links between public health professionals and the authorities we need. Upholding public safety is a critical part of our responsibility as public servants. Alongside colleagues, advocates, and community residents, we stand united to push forward an agenda the honors the memory of all those injured and lost to deadly crashes.”
Proposed measures include:
• The Every School Speed Safety Camera Act: Speeding drivers are the leading cause of traffic fatalities in the city and a leading cause of death of children. This bill would address the issue by helping to bring speed safety cameras to more schoolchildren in NYC. According to Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst), who introduced the proposed legislation in the Senate, speed safety cameras reduce speeding violations by more than 60 percent and injuries to pedestrians by 23 percent, on average. However, current State law only allows cameras to operate in 140 school zones, despite New York City having more than 2,000 schools—leaving more than 93 percent of schools unprotected. This measure would expand to 290 from 140 the number of school zones in which speed safety cameras can be placed; and would increase the distance from a school within which cameras can be placed to a quarter-mile radius.
• A bill that would suspend for 60 days the license of a driver who incurs two speeding violations in school zones within an 18-month period. This law change passed the Senate unanimously earlier this year and is in committee in the Assembly.
• A bill that would create a mandatory reporting system where physicians document ailments that may have caused a driver, without warning, to suddenly lose control of their vehicle, as well as empowering the State Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend licenses for this reason.
• A bill that establishes escalating vehicle registration suspensions for repeated traffic control signal violations: six violations in a 12-month period leading to 15-day registration suspension; nine violations in a 24-month period leading to 30-day registration suspension; and 12 violations in a 36-month period leading to a 90-day registration suspension.
“Simply put, these bills are about protecting children,” Peralta said. “It is time we work together to save lives, to protect children.”
