Smile: NYC Speed Camera Program Expansion Underway

NEW YORK — Smile for the camera — or just slow down. Cameras that catch speeding drivers will now stay on twice as long and be placed near hundreds more New York City schools, city officials announced.

A state law that takes effect Thursday allows the city to dramatically expand its anti-speeding program by putting cameras in as many as 750 school zones and keep them active on weekdays year-round.

The city Department of Transportation wasted no time getting started as it unveiled a new speed camera near a Bronx elementary school off East Tremont Avenue, which officials say is one of the borough's most dangerous corridors.

"Speed cameras are an invaluable tool that help us save the lives of countless children every year," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. "We’re sending a message to all our motorists: drive at a safe speed or pay the price."

Speed cameras have been used in the city since 2014. Drivers whom they capture going more than 10 MPH over the speed limit can get slapped with a $50 fine.

The cameras' reach will ultimately quintuple under the law Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed in May, as the city could previously use them in just 140 school zones. The de Blasio administration plans to install about 40 cameras a month through the end of this year and 60 a month starting in 2020 so that 750 school zones have cameras by June 2020.

The new law gives the city more flexibility in where the cameras can be placed. They can now go up within a quarter-mile radius of a school, while before they had to be within that distance on an abutting street, city officials say.

The law also allows the cameras to be active from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every weekday — including summer vacation and school breaks — rather than just during school hours. That will double the total number of hours that the cameras will be turned on, the mayor's office said.

The de Blasio administration has placed advertisements about the expansion on ferries, radio broadcasts and LinkNYC kiosks and started rolling out digital and print ads this week, city officials said.

City officials argue the cameras drive down speeding, the city's leading cause of fatal crashes. Speeding falls more than 60 percent in zones that have a camera and more than eight in every 10 scofflaw drivers don't get a second ticket, indicating the program helps change behavior, according to the mayor's office.

"This is a life-saving law for our schools and communities and I thank Mayor de Blasio and Albany leaders for their steadfast leadership on behalf of our students, staff and families," city Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said in a statement.