New York City launched a $4 million campaign Monday to counter a rise in traffic violence and curb dangerous driving behaviors such as speeding, announced Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Transportation Commissioner Transport, Ydanis Rodríguez.
This investment billed as the city’s largest and most focused investment in public awareness since the inception of Vision Zero in 2014, titled “Speeding Ruins Lives. Reduce Speed”, or “Speeding Ruins Lives, Slow Down” also represents the largest educational effort directed at the community and ethnic media with a commitment of $1.5 million. This is to help reach a variety of communities across the five boroughs, including communities of color that are disproportionately suffering as a result of traffic violence.
Video ads and other content will appear in nine languages, including Spanish.
“Road safety is public safety and today we continue to take action against road violence,” said Mayor Adams. “This unprecedented campaign will reach New Yorkers across all five boroughs in nine languages with a message: slow down. And we will do everything we can to focus on the ultimate goal of Vision Zero and eliminate traffic deaths.”
The campaign was launched with the inauguration of a new billboard in Pennsylvania Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn. With 35 traffic deaths and more than 300 serious injuries since 2017, East New York it is one of the neighborhoods most affected by traffic violence during the last two years of the pandemic and a Vision Zero priority area with major safety and street redesign projects also currently underway.
The new effort follows Mayor Adams’ historic investment of more than $900 million in highway safety as part of his executive budget for fiscal year 2023. Mayor Adams also announced a plan to redesign 1,000 intersections in New York City to protect pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers, and has led a coalition of partners urging Albany to give the city local control of the automated app, a tool proven to reduce driving hazards .
The New York City Police Department continues to increase its enforcement of speeding and reckless driving in areas where fatalities occur. In the 28-day period ending April 24, 2022, Police issued 47.4% more citations for all dangerous conditions on New York City roadways than in the same period in 2021.
New York City Police also issued 54.6% more citations in that period than the same period last year and issued five percent more citywide speeding citations in the first four months of 2022 than at this point last year.
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