Starting Friday, the city’s default speed limit is 25 miles per hour, instead of 30 miles per hour.
The new limit is part of Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero plan. The math on this is simple: your chance of dying after being hit by a vehicle are cut in half if the car is traveling 25 instead of 30. “Drivers have more time to react with a slower speed,” says DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.
The new limit will affect about 90% of streets — just assume the limit is 25 unless you see as sign saying differently. As for enforcement, it’s not clear whether police will be out in force just yet.
“In the run-up to the new speed limit, NYPD’s top transportation officer Thomas Chan said ticket enforcement is up to the discretion of precinct officers and that there will be no Day 1 ticket blitz. There will also be streets where cars can go higher than 25 mph, Trottenberg has said. Officials said speed enforcement is likely to target drivers blowing the speed limit by 10 mph.”
#25mph #25SavesLives #Drive25 #DriveSafe #VisionZero @NYC_DOT pic.twitter.com/KWumoxRbYv
— New York City Alerts (@NYCityAlerts) November 7, 2014
Photo from the mayor’s office.
Maybe I missed this, but does anyone know whether they are changing the synchronization of the lights on Amsterdam to slow people down somewhat? I assumed currently they are set for a speed of between 25-30mph, but didn’t know if they changed them further with the new speed limit.
No plans to change them. Funny how several people think that drivers will actually be driving less than 25 MPH. As the NYPD recently stated, this new law will be enforced on a discretionary basis. It was pretty much passed to appease the masses. It will certainly be enforced in cases of an accident, which defeats the purpose of the law to begin with.
Enforcing this law would be as difficult as enforcing the jay-walking law. 🙂
I think the traffic lights are getting re-synchronized for 25.
Hope the complete-street treatment for Amsterdam Ave comes before too long.