Photo Courtesy of Sen. Peralta’s Office
Peralta and transportation safety advocates rallied on Monday in Corona for the renewal and expansion of the speed camera program.
By Michael V. Cusenza
State Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) led transportation safety advocates and concerned families on Monday in the latest in a long line of recent rallies urging Senate leaders to reconvene for a special session in Albany to vote on renewing and expanding the city school zone speed camera program.
Under the five-year pilot program first authorized in 2013, 140 cameras were placed near schools within the most dangerous traffic corridors and intersections across the city. The program expired on July 25 after Senate Republicans refused to bring the matter to a vote before the last legislative session ended. On July 25, the first 120 school zone speed cameras operated by the City Department of Transportation were deactivated and stopped issuing summonses. Twenty mobile speed cameras will remain operational until Aug. 30.
Peralta has also appealed directly to Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, firing off a letter to the Long Island lawmaker on Thursday.
“The safety of New York City school kids should not remain in jeopardy,” Peralta wrote.
According to the senator, the camera program has produced tangible results. There has been a 63-percent decline in speeding violations at locations that feature the monitoring technology, resulting in an overall drop in traffic-related injuries and deaths.
Peralta has been calling on his colleagues to not only renew the pilot program but expand it. Under his proposed measure, 150 speed monitoring devices would be added to the existing 140. The program will be in operation for the next four years. Until July 25, these automated speed enforcement devices had been active beginning one hour before until one hour after a scheduled school day. Additionally, the cameras were in operation from up to 30 minutes prior until 30 minutes following student activities, Peralta noted.
“Currently, we have 35 co-sponsors on this truly bipartisan bill. We have to stop playing politics with our children’s lives,” the senator added. “Who are the grown-ups here? Sadly, Republican leadership refuses to reconvene the Senate to reinstate and expand the life-saving school zone speed camera program. We have three weeks until more than one million children return to school in New York City. Let’s return to Albany, right this wrong and ensure our kids are protected when they go back to school.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday issued the first status report since the majority of the city’s school safety speed cameras went dark last month. According to DOT, which is still collecting speed data from deactivated cameras, 132,253 drivers have been observed through Friday, Aug. 10 exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 miles per hour during school hours.
“We aren’t talking about they are supposed to be going 25 and they went 26. No this is like serious speeding and this unfortunately is the shape of things to come if the State Senate doesn’t come back and do its job,” de Blasio said on “Inside City Hall” on Spectrum News New York 1. “The governor said he’s ready to sign the bill; the only reason our children are not being sufficiently protected is the State Senate won’t come back and finish the job.”
