NYC's Expiring School Zone Speed Cameras Spark Protest In Corona

CORONA, QUEENS -- As the clock to keep New York City's school zone speed cameras ticked down to its final hours on Wednesday, Queens parents and activist gathered to prematurely mourn the loss outside a Corona elementary school that was one of dozens to benefit from the expiring legislation.

A pilot program approved by the State Legislature in 2013 - and expanded in 2014 - brought 140 cameras to school zones across the city, but that program is set to expire on 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. If legislators don't renew before then - and it appears unlikely they will - 120 of those school-zone cameras will go dark.

State Senator Jose Peralta, who has long pushed fellow legislators to vote on his bill to renew and expand the program, called its expiration "senseless" and "illogical" as he spoke to protesters outside P.S. 330Q on Wednesday.

"This is a sad day for our city, for our kids and for all New Yorkers," Peralta said. "In September, more than one million children will return to school on more dangerous roads. This is unacceptable."

Peralta called the program "tremendously successful" and claimed speed cameras have "saved countless lives." Numbers suggest he's onto something.

The NYC Department of Transportation's June 2017 report on the speed enforcement program found injury crashes dropped by more than 14 percent after the cameras were activated, despite them only being turned on for weekdays during the school year.

Speeding tickets have also plummeted by 63 percent in areas with the school-zone cameras, and more than 80 percent of those first-time offenders don't receive a second violation, Peralta said.

Peralta for more than a year now has pushed his bill to renew the 140 school-zone speed cameras and add another 150 speed monitoring devices. Under his bill, the cameras would stay in operation on weekdays during school hours and student activities for another four years.

The bill now has 34 co-sponsors, including the entire State Democratic Conference, but it wasn't enough to convince Republican Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan to convene a special session to discuss the proposal.

But activist groups Families for Safe Streets and Transportation Alternatives said that won't stop them from fighting for the speed cameras' return.

“This could have been routine, because after all, protecting kids isn't controversial,” said Amy Cohen, a member of Families for Safe Streets. “We are going to do whatever it takes to make sure these life-saving cameras are turned on before school starts in September.

Lead photo courtesy of the Office of Senator Jose Peralta