The day New York's City Council unanimously passed a bill to step up the installation of speed humps near schools, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said the council is working to pass a bill lowering speed limits by the end of next month -- her last in the city council.
"We are actively working on that bill. And our goal is to try to pass it -- our goal is to pass it before the end of the year," Quinn said at a press conference when asked about a bill lowering speed limits to 20 mph. "But we're actively negotiating it -- we're actively working on it right now. We are working on it to try to get it to a point where we can pass it next month." (The exact details of the bill currently under discussion are unclear.)
Those measures came amidst a growing clamor for greater pedestrian safety,, including an NYPD crackdown on moving violations that endanger pedestrians.
The NYPD released the results of what it called a "pedestrian safety and awareness drive," touting its issuance of more than 4,000 moving violations to drivers in five days.
This comes on the heels of a bruising few days for street safety. According to NYPD press releases, four pedestrians have been killed in four days on city streets. And recently, the residents of neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn have rallied on the streets, following the deaths of several children struck down by cars.
"Speeding, as we know, is the number one cause of deadly crashes in New York City," said Quinn in a press conference Tuesday, just before the Council voted to approve the legislation requiring the New York City Department of Transportation to install at least 50 speed humps a year on streets near schools. The requirement applies to schools that have 250 students or more in grades 12 and below.
"Speed humps have been shown to reduce pedestrian crashes by more than 40 percent, and reduce speeds by nearly 20 percent," she added.
(Quinn also took the opportunity to clear up some confusion over speed humps versus bumps. "If you go at a bump fast, you may get air, take some air," she said, "as opposed to if you go at a hump too fast your car is less likely to do a Dukes of Hazzard move." In other words: humps are longer and lower; bumps are narrower and higher.)
Although the term 'speed hump' caused some titters, the motivation behind it was deadly serious. This bill "will save lives," said City Councilwoman Debi Rose, who sponsored the legislation. Rose said she was spurred by the death of a 13-year-old girl in her district in 2011. "What is most horrific about these tragedies is that they are so easily avoidable."
Soon after the Council press conference, the NYPD released the results of its five -day crackdown on drivers who commit moving violations. The tally:
1,374 moving violation summonses issued in Manhattan, 1,274 in Brooklyn, 969 in Queens, 562 in the Bronx and 168 in Staten Island.
749 double-parking violation summonses issued in Manhattan, 290 in the Brooklyn, 117 in Queens, 151 in the Bronx and one in Staten Island.
46 arrests of operators driving with a suspended license in Manhattan, 23 in Queens, 13 in Brooklyn, seven in the Bronx, and one in Staten Island. There was one arrest for reckless driving in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn.
(Two weeks ago, just prior to this crackdown, I witnessed police pulling over drivers at the intersection of Canal and Church Streets in lower Manhattan. They appeared to be targeting vehicles to failed to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk.)
But some advocates say the police need to do more. Also on Tuesday, Transportation Alternatives released a report critical of the NYPD. “Moving violations are pervasive in New York City," said the group's executive director Paul Steely White, "and enforcement of those violations is lax.”