Boerum Hill Residents Want Speed Limit Lowered
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York is a fast-moving city and drivers are no exception but one Brooklyn neighborhood wants to slow things down.
Whether it's on Atlantic or of Pacific, residents in Boerum Hill say drivers are speeding and making it dangerous for pedestrians to cross the street. "There's a lot of speeding, there's a lot of reckless driving," resident Sarah Wikenczy said.
Community leaders are proposing that the Department of Transportation experiment with reducing the speed limit from 30, as it is on most city streets, to 20 in the traffic area bounded by Court Street, 4th Avenue, Pacific and Baltic Street.
One resident tells 1010 WINS' John Montone the lower speed limit would never work
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"If we got people to go 20, to be conscious of pedestrian and bicycles, it would be a huge change and prevent accidents," resident Howard Kolins said.
Proponents of the speed reduction say that if you're struck by a vehicle at 30 miles an hour, you have a 50 percent survival rate. At 20 miles an hour, it is a 90 percent survival rate.
Speeding has been successfully lowered in sections of London and Brooklyn Councilman Stephen Levin supports the proposal.
"On the side streets, Pacific, Dean and Bergen, you have cars avoiding Atlantic and still going at Atlantic speed, or trying to," Levin said.
However, there are some skeptics.
"I don't know that it would do much," resident Michael Doyle said. "I think people are going to go the speed they want to go."
"To do 20 miles per hour on Atlantic Avenue is not going to work out it's going to make things worse," a trucker said. "It's going to be a problem because it's already congested.'
A spokesman for the Department of Transportation says the proposal is being considered.
What do you think of the proposal? Let us know below!
