NYC Speed Cameras Go 24/7 Near Schools After Gov Signs Bill

NEW YORK CITY —Lead-footed motorists across New York City just got one more reason to slow down round-the-clock.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a long-awaited bill into law Saturday that extended the city’s speed camera program in school zones to 24/7 operation.

Her signature closed a pesky quirk in the program: the cameras first installed nine years ago were required by law to shut off between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and on weekends.

Mayor Eric Adams said expanding the cameras’ operations simply made sense.

“It was a hard fought battle because some people thought that cameras were a way of being punitive, when it was not,” he said. “It was a way of deterrence because once you get that ticket one time, you're not going to speed again, and then it's the halo effect that you are not going to speed in the area.”

Advocates long argued such a gap reduced the program’s effectiveness, especially as traffic deaths climbed in the past year.

But the shut off remained for nine years as state lawmakers effectively refused to give city officials control over the cameras.

A push to expand the program was bolstered by a study that speeding in school zones fell by 70 percent during the hours the cameras were running.

“That's basic math,” Adams said. “You don't have to be a mathematical expert to say, ‘What did we do differently?’”

Momentum for a change eventually culminated in state bills shepherded by state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assembly Member Deborah Glick to renew the speed camera program for three more years and expand its hours to round-the-clock.

After receiving City Council approval, the bills sailed to Hochul’s desk for a signature.

“This will undoubtedly save lives in New York City,” Gounardes said in a statement.

"We need to use every tool at our disposal, and far too many of our children have been killed by cars to not reauthorize and expand this life-saving program," Hochul said in a statement.

The law, however, only gives the city permission to place cameras around schools, not at red lights.