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Transportation & Environment
Community Board Five Resolution: Automated Speed Enforcement Cameras
WHEREAS, Community Board Five is deeply concerned about speed-related roadway deaths and injuries which resulted in the death of 63 people and the injury of 2,150 people in 2009; and
WHEREAS, Pedestrians and cyclists are at a heightened risk of injury in speed-related crashes: if a pedestrian is hit by a car at 40 mph, there is a 70% chance the pedestrian will be killed; but if a driver strikes a pedestrian at 30 mph, there is an 80% chance the pedestrian will survive; and
WHEREAS, Speeding is the number one cause of deadly crashes in New York City, claiming more lives than drunken driving and distracted driving combined; and
WHEREAS, In 2009, 170 cyclists and pedestrians were killed on New York City's roads; and
WHEREAS, Law enforcement agencies, with increasing responsibility and without commensurate increases in staffing levels, are considering technologies to improve their efficiency; and
WHEREAS, Automated speed enforcement cameras, when used in conjunction with traditional means of traffic enforcement and public education, complement law enforcement's traffic safety efforts and enforcement programs; and
WHEREAS, Automated speed enforcement cameras have been shown to reduce all crashes by 14-72% and injuries and fatalities by 40-45%; and
WHEREAS, The New York State Senate and Assembly will introduce legislation, which would authorize the City of New York to use camera technology to enforce existing speed limits and support the efforts of the NYPD; and
WHEREAS, BILL NO. A07737 would authorize the City of New York to establish a demonstration program imposing liability on owners of motor vehicles found to be in violation of the maximum speed limit or the maximum school speed limit of the city through the use of a speed limit photo device which combines speed sensing technology which determines the speed of a vehicle and captures/records that date by photographic, microphotographic, video tape or other recording system and produces an image of a motor vehicle at the moment that it exceeds the speed limit; and would provide for the expiration of this demonstration program five (5) years after the effective date; and
WHEREAS, The City would be authorized to operate between twenty and forty cameras, and
WHEREAS, This technology is presently in use in the District of Columbia, California, North Carolina, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee Utah, Arizona, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That Community Board Five supports the use of automated speed enforcement cameras, and calls on the respective houses to pass this legislation and for the governor to sign it; and be it further
RESOLVED, That Community Board Five urges the New York City Council and the Mayor to fully support this legislation.
The above resolution passed with a vote of 27 in favor, 4opposed, 1 abstaining.