Bill Expanding New York City's Speed Camera Program Signed Into Law

Activists with the organization Families for Safe Streets hold up pictures of their loved ones killed by traffic. Governor Cuomo signed the bill to expand speed cameras on Mother's Day.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation expanding New York City's speed camera program, which will allow the city to install cameras to monitor reckless driving in 750 school zones, up from 140.

The governor signed the bill on Mother's Day, flanked by his own mother, Matilde Cuomo, and activist Amy Cohen, whose 12-year-old son was killed in 2013 by a van in Brooklyn. Cohen helped form the group Families for Safe Streets, which lobbied for the bill's passage. 

"We are protecting the next generation of children, creating a safe passage to school, changing the culture of reckless driving so that other mothers will get to raise their children," Cohen said at the bill-signing ceremony on Sunday. 

Cohen said that honoring motherhood requires that people stop treating pedestrians killed by traffic as "accidents" and instead acknowledge that the crashes can be prevented.

The bill's signing comes after state senators last summer allowed the existing program to expire without renewal. Lawmakers' failure to act prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency and the City Council to pass a local version of the law. Coupled together, the unique maneuver allowed the speed cameras to get up and running for the start of the school year in September.

"New York is the greatest city in the world, and I believe that," said Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, sponsor of the speed camera bill who represents part of lower Manhattan. "But it is not a livable city if people's lives are in danger every day."

Glick said that since passing a pilot program, areas with speed cameras saw speeding violations drop by more than 60 percent and traffic deaths drop by 55 percent.

The expanded program also allows the cameras to be turned on for more hours: from 6:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. The law takes effect in July. It will have to be renewed again in 2022.

State lawmakers are also considering legislation that would allow local municipalities to outfit school buses with cameras, in order to monitor and fine drivers who unlawfully pass stopped buses. Lawmakers have reportedly reached a deal on the bill, called the School Bus Camera Safety Act, and Cuomo expressed his support for it. 

"I commend the Legislature for reaching an agreement on this critical issue and I look forward to seeing it passed and to signing it into law, making New York one of the first states to use this technology to protect the safety of our school children," said the governor in a statement last week.