The Commute: How To Meaningfully Improve Traffic Safety

Source: NYC.gov/DOT

THE COMMUTE: The 25 mile per hour (MPH) default speed limit is now the law. What proponents of this legislation fail to realize is that with a 30 MPH speed limit, the average speed limit on city streets is only 20 MPH or less. A maximum speed limit of 25 MPH will bring the average speed limit down to 12 MPH in most cases. That means that your average automobile and truck trip (yes, we forget about trucks, don’t we?) will now take almost twice as long. That is if everyone complies, and of course few will.

The cost of delivering goods will also increase as will the cost to provide bus service. Schedules will have to be rewritten to reflect lower speeds, especially for SBS and express bus routes. All these costs will be directly passed on to the consumer through higher shipping costs and higher fares. Of course, our legislators have not factored that into their decision to pass this law.

A police officer now has the right to pull over any car exceeding the new 25 MPH speed limit and give him a $150 fine. As Crazy Eddie would say, this law is “Insane!” [– Ed. For readers born after 1988, who have no understanding of the pop culture phenomenon that was Crazy Eddie commercials] The NYPD said their officers would, however, use discretion and not write summonses for someone driving one mile over the speed limit. Someone already reported on SubChat that his friend was issued a summons for doing 30 MPH under the new law, the first day it went into effect. So much for a 10 MPH grace allowance.

Allow me to understand. Flagrant speeders were rarely summoned when the speed limit was 30 MPH, but now the unlucky few who are traveling at a speed that was lawful just a few days ago now get huge fines and as well as points on their licenses and hikes in their auto insurance. All that while dangerous driving continues. That will really make for safer streets.

If History Is A Guide For The Future

The Department of Sanitation chief promised when the recycling law went into effect that only those who flagrantly avoided the law would receive $100 fines. Instead, homeowners were ticketed when a passerby dropped a coffee cup into someone’s recycling bin, and other Sanitation officers were caught on camera giving summonses for not recycling without ever opening up garbage bags.

That prompted former City Councilman Mike Nelson to introduce legislation requiring sanitation officers to provide photographic evidence of each violation. Of course, he received much publicity for proposing it, which might have been his only objective. It did not win enough support to become law, most likely because the City Council was more concerned with its effect on revenue, than with fairness. Other officers have been caught by home video dragging trash onto someone’s property and then citing the homeowner for a dirty sidewalk. When the pressure is on for someone to meet a quota, they will do what it takes to meet that quota. So why wouldn’t police officers ticket cars doing a few miles over the speed limit when they need to meet their quota at the end of the month? It is so much easier than having to wait for a flagrant speeder doing 50 MPH on a local street.

I remember a no parking sign on Voorhies Avenue hidden behind scaffolding. When the police needed an easy parking ticket, they went there. The situation was so bad that residents posted their own warning in a visible spot, admonishing their neighbors not to park there, advising of the hidden sign. Why would enforcing the speed limits be any different? It is human nature to do what is easiest not what is best.

What A 30 MPH Speed Limit Meant

Thirty MPH did not mean that cars drove at 30 MPH. Most times where there is heavy auto and pedestrian traffic you couldn’t go faster than 20 MPH anyway, and sometimes much slower than that. The other night, when the speed limit was still 30 MPH, I was driving at 20 MPH along Brighton Beach Avenue. Three pedestrians cut directly in front of me in the dark wearing dark clothing. Two were illegally crossing mid-block. The third was crossing at the corner on a red light, totally oblivious to the cars around her, only pausing to look for traffic after she was directly in my path. If I had not been driving so cautiously and slowly, I could have hit any one of them. The two crossing mid-block most likely chose to cross in front of me precisely because I was going so slowly. Perhaps if the city posted “Stupid People Crossing” signs on Brighton Beach Avenue maybe some pedestrians would think twice before crossing. Common sense cannot be legislated.

Buses

Buses, especially express buses and select buses, will also be traveling slower. So we are spending scarce funding to create SBS bus routes so the average passenger saves six minutes on his 2.3-mile trip, only to lower speed limits and possibly eliminate any gains made by SBS. However, city officials do not care if SBS money is wasted because they view the federal funds that pay for a great portion of SBS as “free money” and they get publicity for doing something to “improve” mass transit.

However, it is still “our money.” Instead of spending $500,000 for new signs to lower the speed limit and another $200,000 to create select bus service routes, how about a simple change in the law requiring other traffic to give buses the right of way when pulling out of bus stops? That law wouldn’t cost anything, and would save buses a minute or two at each bus stop where traffic is extra heavy. That would have a real positive effect on speeding all bus service — much more than select bus service, which only affects fewer than one in 20 bus routes. We need good laws, not bad ones.

Increased Safety Or Increased Revenue?

Much has already been written about speed cameras and red light cameras with regard to their true purpose. Of course, the answer is “increased revenue.” Look at the locations they are choosing to place the speed cameras: on highway service roads where there is no reason for a pedestrian to cross the roadway — not near school entrances where pedestrians are crossing.

The city has long maintained that safety is their number one priority, saying lowering the speed limit could save lives. However, is auto and pedestrian safety really that important to the city? Just look at what the city is or is not doing in the name of automobile and pedestrian safety?

We will discuss that next week.

The Commute is a weekly feature highlighting news and information about the city’s mass transit system and transportation infrastructure. It is written by Allan Rosen, a Manhattan Beach resident and former Director of MTA/NYC Transit Bus Planning (1981).

Disclaimer: The above is an opinion column and may not represent the thoughts or position of Sheepshead Bites. Based upon their expertise in their respective fields, our columnists are responsible for fact-checking their own work, and their submissions are edited only for length, grammar and clarity. If you would like to submit an opinion piece or become a regularly featured contributor, please e-mail nberke [at] sheepsheadbites [dot] com.