Do speed cameras really make New York City streets safer?
NEW YORK – Do speed cameras actually make New York City streets safer?
They've been around for a decade, but now more than 2,000 speed cameras exist in the city around 750 school zones. If you see the light, it's already too late; it'll cost you $50, but you won't get any points on your license.
Critics say speed cameras are just a money grab
Many drivers told CBS News New York's Dick Brennan they feel speed cameras are the new "Big Brother," a kind of high-tech pick-pocket.
"I think it's ridiculous, honestly. Taking people's money," said Kaelan Milheireo, of Kearny, New Jersey.
"They're gonna make money off of the people doing nothing," said Nicole Fulmore, of West New York, New Jersey.
"It's just a big basic gotcha and a money grab. And that's what this is, unfortunately, about. It's really not about safety," said Jay Beeber, of the National Motorists Association.
"If you lower the speed limit and people are safer, how can you be against that?" Brennan asked.
"Well, the first thing I would say is simply lowering the speed limit doesn't actually make people safer," Beeber said.
Beeber took Brennan out for a spin in the Bronx to try prove his point.
"So this is a school zone, 25 miles per hour with a camera. What do you make of this roadway?" Brennan asked.
"This is not a roadway that is designed for people to feel comfortable driving at 25 miles an hour. This is a roadway which is designed for people to feel comfortable driving at 35 or 45 miles an hour. It's two lanes. There's no traffic coming the other direction," Beeber said.
What's worse, he says, since the city issues violations when you go more than 10 mph over the speed limit, you can get a ticket for going 36 mph in a 25 mph zone. Critics say officials should be going after drivers speeding on highways, who they claim cause the biggest dangers, such as people traveling 70 or 80 mph on the Long Island Expressway.
Beeber also believes the $50 tickets target those who can least afford to pay.
"You don't need speed cameras. You don't need a lot of ticketing. What you do is you design a roadway for 25 miles an hour, and people will generally drive the speed that you've designed the road for," he said.
On that point, many actually agree.
"If you design streets more narrowly, lanes more narrowly, you actually slow traffic down," Sen. Andrew Gounardes said.
Many city planners, including in Manhattan, are making streets more narrow.
Violations have decreased since speed cameras went 24/7, DOT says
Gounardes, however, still says it's about enforcement, and the city says it has the numbers on its side: since speed cameras started operating 24/7, the Department of Transportation says violations are down 30% – in some intersections, they're down as much as 96%.
"They reduce the rates of speeding anywhere on our streets, especially around sensitive areas, like schools," Gounardes said.
Gounardes says the majority of violators are one and done.
"Most people, about 70 percent of people who get one speeding ticket don't get another because they learn their lesson," he said.
Gounardes has even proposed a bill that people who get six or more speeding tickets a year should have a speed limiter device installed in their car that actually forces drivers to obey the speed limit. He got a demonstration and says it works well.
"If you are going to continue to drive your car unsafely, we're gonna force you to drive your car safely," he said. "And if you do you don't want to pay the $50, I have the easiest solution in the world. It's a loophole that we put into this law, it's very simple – don't speed. If you don't speed, then you won't get a speeding ticket."
Mary Beth Kelly, with Families for Safe Streets, understands how deadly the roads can be.
"It destroys families. It destroys communities," she said.
Her husband, Carl Henry, was killed by a city police department tow truck making a turn while he was biking with Kelly in 2006.
"He survived for three days in intensive care on life support, and then died from his injuries," Kelly said. "I used to feel like it was as though a bomb went off and all of us had shrapnel in us, you know, and you carry that for the rest of your life."
She's dedicated her life to saving others, helping found Families for Safe Streets.