Speed camera violations dropped 30% citywide in the past 12 months, the first year in which the law allowed the cameras to issue automated tickets 24/7.
“Speeding happens most often on nights and weekends, and expanded enforcement has been a highly effective tool to keep New Yorkers safe,” Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement. “The program has reduced speeding, decreased the number of injuries and made our streets safer.”
Traffic fatalities went down in that period as well, according to DOT data, with 25% fewer deaths in camera zones in the past 12 months than in the year prior.
Before round-the-clock operation of the school-zone speed cameras began in August 2022, the city’s automatic system for catching speeding cars only operated between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. on school days.
The most dramatic speeding reduction occurred on a stretch of Houston St. in Manhattan’s East Village, where speed camera tickets are down 96% in the 12 months leading up to August 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, the Transportation Department said.
Cropsey Ave., in South Brooklyn, saw an 84% drop in automated speeding tickets during the same time period.
Tickets also went down by 83% on Union Turnpike in Queens, and by 74% on North Conduit Blvd. in eastern Brooklyn. Bruckner Blvd. in the Bronx saw a 68% reduction, the city’s data show.
By law, speed cameras can only be set up in school zones.
State law also restricts the fine for automated camera tickets to $50. The tickets do not assess points to a driver’s license, as the system can’t tell who is behind the wheel of a speeding car.
The 24-hour cameras garnered brief national attention earlier this month when “The Wire” creator David Simon called New York an “off-brand” city in a tirade on X, the platform formerly known at Twitter, after he got caught doing 36 mph in a 25 zone at 5:40 a.m.
The Transportation Department’s official X account struck back, telling Simon, “delete your account.”
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