DOT Report Recommends More Speed Cameras Near NYC Schools

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council are calling for additional speed cameras throughout the five boroughs after a recent study found that a majority of the city’s worst areas for speeding were near public schools.

The Department of Transportation has released a map of 100 schools across the five boroughs where an estimated 75 percent cars were found to be speeding within a quarter-mile of the school grounds.

The list includes P.S. 270 on Dekalb between Classon and St. James Place, where 87 percent of cars were found to be speeding. In Brooklyn, the top spot was close to P.S. 270 in East Flatbush, where 100 percent of the cars during the survey were speeding.  (See full list in the photo gallery under PDFs). 

Transportation officials said that speeding is the single greatest contributing factor to traffic deaths, resulting in 81 of the 274 fatalities - or 30 percent - in 2012.

The City Council’s transportation committee has now prepared a resolution to ask state legislators to grant the city permission to install 20 to 40 speed cameras in the worst areas for speeding near schools or senior centers, NY 1 reported.

The Council is expected to vote on the resolution later this week. The speed limit in most of the areas of the city is 30 miles per hour.