Petition Pushes For Speed Cams' Resurrection As School Year Looms

NEW YORK — A petition launched Tuesday urges state senators to restore New York City's school zone speed camera program as public school students prepare to head back to class.

The state Legislature adjourned in June without renewing the city's authorization to ticket speeding drivers using cameras posted near schools. That meant 120 of the 140 cameras couldn't issue summonses after July 25, while the remaining 20 are set to "go dark" Aug. 30, City Comptroller Scott Stringer's office said.

The petition, spearheaded by Stringer and the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, urges senators to renew the program "without further delay," noting that the new school year starts Sept. 5.

The city's students could be in danger if the Republican-controlled Senate doesn't take action, city officials and advocates said.

"If the (S)enate GOP fails to act, make no mistake about it: we will remember they allowed over a million students to begin their school year in an environment more dangerous than when they left," Stringer said in a statement.

The petition continues city officials' persistent push to restore a program they say has reduced speeding and fatalities near city schools.

While they can no longer issue tickets, the city has still used the 120 deactivated cameras to collect data on speeding. They had caught more than 132,000 drivers speeding by schools as of Aug. 10, Mayor Bill de Blasio's office said last week.

The Democratic-led state Assembly has passed a bill to renew the speed camera program and expand it to additional school zones. But the legislation has not moved in the Senate, where lawmakers have proposed simply extending the existing program while taking other steps to address speeding, such as adding red lights and stop signs.

Zane Walker, a Brooklyn teen who attends high school in Manhattan, said speed cameras could have saved his friend Lucian, who was killed by a reckless driver when he was just 9 years old. Drivers have killed more than 45 other kids since Lucian's death in 2013, Zane said.

"They know speed cameras save lives, and I can not understand why they refuse to protect us," Zane, 14, said in a statement. "It's wrong, and they need to correct their mistake right now before we lose more friends."

Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Paul Steely White accused Senate GOP leadership of protecting speeders despite "just about everyone" supporting the cameras.

"Letting the school-based speed safety camera program expire has emboldened drivers to flout the law, and will put more than one million schoolchildren at risk of injury and death come September," White said in a statement.

The Senate's Republican leadership has blamed Democrats, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for the program's continued lapse. A spokeswoman for the GOP majority continued to toe that line Tuesday.

"Senate Republicans have repeatedly stated that they are willing to extend the speed camera program," Senate GOP spokeswoman Candice Giove said in a statement. "Curiously, Democrats continue to hold press conferences instead of working towards that goal. It is now up to the Governor and the Assembly."

(Lead image: Photo from Shutterstock)