City Council Passes 25 MPH Speed Limit Legislation, But Is Enforcement Key?

The New York City Council passed legislation yesterday that reduces the citywide speed limit on residential streets from 30 miles per hour to 25 mph – a move that lawmakers and advocates said would, if properly enforced, dramatically reduce traffic-related injuries and fatalities.

After state legislators voted in June to allow the city to lower the speed limit, the Council approved the bill – sponsored by Councilman David Greenfield – that aims to slow vehicles on streets where speed limits are not posted (meaning roads overseen by the state Department of Transportation, such as expressways and parkways, will not be affected). The reduction is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative, which aims to dramatically curb traffic injuries and deaths over the next decade.

“Reducing the default speed limit in New York City is the lynchpin of Vision Zero,” Greenfield said in a statement to the press.

City officials said they plan to launch a three week publicity campaign about the speed reduction on Monday, according to the New York Times, and the new speed limit will go into effect on November 7.

The nonprofit Transportation Alternatives too backed the Council’s move, but specified that in their eyes, enforcement – not simply a new number – is key. “[I]f properly enforced,” the group noted, “the new speed limit could prevent more than 6,500 traffic injuries in the next year and cut the annual number of pedestrian fatalities in half.”

The group urged de Blasio to quickly give his stamp of approval to the bill – which the mayor is expected to do, having even sent out his own statement praising the Council’s vote – and stressed that the NYPD and city Department of Transportation need “to send a stronger message about the dangers of speeding by continuing to improve traffic enforcement and public information initiatives.”

“Unsafe driver speed is the number one cause of traffic deaths in the city, killing more New Yorkers than drunk driving and cell phone use at the wheel combined,” Transportation Alternatives said in the same statement. “A pedestrian hit by a driver going 25 mph is twice as likely to survive as a person hit at 30mph.”

What do you think of the proposed lowered limit? Is the number enough to make a difference in traffic safety around NYC, or is it worthless without increased enforcement?

By Anna Gustafson; photo via Governor Andrew Cuomo