The City issued a reminder to drivers, particularly reckless drivers: As of next monday august 1st road surveillance cameras installed in every corner of the city of New York, will be working the 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year.
“We remind drivers with criminal behavior, who drive at high speed, that from now on they will hardly be able to escape the arm of justice, when they harm a pedestrian or other drivers on the streets of the Big Apple,” he said Wednesday Ydanis Rodriguez, commissioner of New York City Transportation (DOT) launching from Lower Manhattan another phase of the campaign to spread the strategies trying to curb the growing fatalities on the roads.
In several congested intersections and where in a matter of hours the speed control radars will be working permanently, a another day of awareness with additional information on the implementation of this extension of the camera program and its benefits for pedestrians.
The data derived from the analyzes carried out by the City reveal that one in three deaths or serious injuries they occur on the days and hours that the cameras are not operating. Especially on weekends. And, more specifically, between 10 at night and two in the morning.
According to a report of traffic deaths in 2020, carried out by the road safety organization Transportation Alternatives, almost the 40% of deaths in traffic accidents they occurred in areas where the security cameras were not operational.
A month ago the governor Kathy Hochul signed an approved law by state assembly which gave the green light to this new road surveillance action. Until now, safety radars, which work in school zones, they could only stay on between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. during school days.
“We are honoring the lives of innocent New Yorkers who lost their lives to disrespectful drivers. Now everything will be very complicated for them. Our streets will be watched, without pauses. And we are expanding our outreach campaign through various media, so that all New Yorkers know about this new strategy,” said Rodríguez.
Since 2021, DOT has installed an average of 60 new cameras per monthwith the goal of reaching a total of 2,220 cameras in 2022. Especially in the 750 Big Apple school districts.
Tickets are issued when vehicles exceed posted speed limits by more than 10 MPH, and come with a $50 fine which is mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle.
Hit-and-runs on the rise
The 24-hour surveillance strategy for the city’s roads begins when the latest data shows 113 associated deaths with traffic accidents in NYC between January and June. This is 7% less than in 2021, but 29% more than in 2018.
These figures show that The Bronx has the most fatalities since 2014including 28 in the first half of 2022.
Generally there is a 129% increase in hit and run incidents throughout the city.
This new campaign called ‘security cameras save lives’, joins other strategies that the municipal government has put in place, to suffocate the “road hell” that has been staged this 2022.
Earlier this month a zero tolerance action against “ghost cars” circulating in the streets. That is to say, for those drivers who use fake license plates, either paper or vinyl, which generally, when inspected or detained, are mostly associated with criminal acts.
Currently being redesigned 1,000 intersections to protect pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers with better traffic signals and elevated crosswalks.
The cameras do work:
- 55% is the reduction of all deaths for traffic accidents at sites where radars have been installed, according to the organization Transportation Alternatives.
- 19% is the decrease of the accidents in which children who walked or rode bicycles on those same road axes were affected.
- 17% decreased serious injuries related to accidents on the monitored roads.
- 72% decreased speeding at security camera locations throughout the city.
- 50% of drivers who received a first violation by being “caught” by a speed camera never received a second, even as the number of cameras increased in 2020.
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