More than 200 people are dying on New York City streets every year in crashes that some insist can be prevented. Deaths due to car crashes have been steadily declining since the start of the Vision Zero program in 2014, but local advocates are focusing on getting more speed cameras near schools.
Amy Cohen and Judy Kottick – who each lost a child in a fatal crash – are calling for 150 more speed cameras in school zones to protect children. Cohen and Kottick, who have teamed up with Transportation Alternatives, used their own radar devices to record excessive speeding, and presented the evidence to lawmakers to demand change. When children showed up for school along Coney Island Avenue, they found that 50% of vehicles were speeding, and 10% were going 11 mph or more (which would earn them a ticket with a speed camera in place).
Experts say cameras reduce speeding by nearly 61%, and 81% of the people who get caught by a camera don’t speed again. Only 7% of NYC schools have speed cameras.
Source: PIX11
