Senate Bill S2504

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S2504

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to increasing
penalties imposed on owners for failure of an operator to comply with
posted speed limits in the city of New York

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To ensure that drivers who repeatedly violate New York City's school
zone speed camera laws face increasing penalties

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one amends subdivision (e) of section 1180-b of the Vehicle and
Traffic Law to provide the following table of penalties for violations
of the school zone speed camera law within two years:

First two offenses - $50

              

Third offense - $100

Fourth offense - $125

Fifth offense - $150

Sixth offense - $200

Seventh or subsequent offense - $250

Section two sets the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Speeding motorists continue to put schoolchildren and other pedestrians
in unnecessary danger in New York City. The New York City Department of
Transportation (NYC DOT) reports that the risk of pedestrian death from
being struck by a speeding vehicle increases from 5% at a speed of 20
miles per hour to 45% at a speed of 30 miles per hour, a 900% increase.

Chapter 189 of the Laws of 2013 established a five year demonstration
program to allow a small amount of speed safety cameras to be used near
schools in New York City at certain hours of the day. The law was
renewed and expanded most recently with the passage of Ch. 229 of 2022,
which allowed the cameras to operate 24/7, after DOT reported a consist-
ent drop in speeding infractions in locations where cameras had been
installed.  The New York City speed camera program is proven to both
deter future speeding and save lives.

There is evidence to suggest, however, that the cameras' deterrent
effect has waned over time. While DOT reported a whopping 81% of drivers
who received a speeding ticket from 2014-2016 did not receive a second
(New York City Department of Transportation, Automated Speed Enforcement
Program Report: 2014-2017, p. 13) that figure had dropped to 46% by
2021. In their 2022 speed camera report, DOT noted that "(w)hile the
majority of drivers are deterred from speeding by one or two camera
violations, there is a group of recidivist speeders who continue to
drive unsafely despite receiving multiple NOLs. These habitual speeders
will require a stronger penalty in in order to change their dangerous
driving behavior. The City of New York supports implementing an escalat-
ing fine regime to address this population." (New York City Department
of Transportation, New York City Automated Speed Enforcement Program
Report: 2022 Report, p. 18).  From 2014 to 2021, DOT reported, the
percentage of drivers receiving a second, third, fourth, and so on tick-
et for speeding in a school zone steadily and encouragingly decreased,
to a low of one percent of drivers at nine tickets yet the percentage of
total offenders receiving ten or more tickets remained at a stubbornly
high six percent, suggesting that there is a subset for drivers for whom
a steady stream of NYC speeding tickets is nothing more than the cost of
owning a car (New York City Department of Transportation, New York City
Automated Speed Enforcement Program Report: 2022 Report, p. 19). Then in
March 2023, Streetsblog NYC reported that only 40% fewer drivers had
gotten tickets in February 2023 compared to when the cameras started to
operate 24/7 in August 2022 (Julianne Cuba (2023, Mar 17). "'Major
Victory': Drivers Getting Nabbed with Fewer Speeding Tickets: City.
Streetsblog NYC.).

A laundry list of other moving and nonmoving violations result in esca-
lating fines for repeat offenses, including speeding in a work zone,
distracted driving, the blocking of bus lanes (NYC only), and overnight
truck parking on residential streets (NYC only).  Additionally, regular
speeding outside of an automated camera program, i.e. when pulled over
by an officer, imposes increased fines if convicted again within 18
months but not if the driver is caught by a camera in a New York City
school zone. This bill extends the same concept of higher fines for
repeat offenders to the school zone speed camera program by providing
that speeders face higher fines on the third or subsequent violation
within a period of two years.  Setting a graduated fee schedule for this
small subset of recidivist drivers is a commonsense reform to New York
City's otherwise successful automated enforcement program.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law; provided that the amendments to section 1180-b of the
vehicle and traffic law made by section one of this act shall not affect
the expiration of such section and shall expire and be deemed repealed
therewith.