Councilman David G. Greenfield has written a letter to the New York City Department of Transportation demanding that the agency reveal how much revenue it has taken in from speed cameras placed along Ocean Parkway.
“The DOT promised me that they would not lower the speed limit on Ocean Parkway without community input and consent. The community is completely against lowering the speed on Ocean Parkway. We can’t let arbitrary rules trump common sense,” Greenfield said. “As I made clear to the DOT when they were considering these changes last year, Ocean Parkway is not an appropriate street for a 25 mile per hour speed limit.”
Last year, as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero initative, the default speed limit on all New York City roads was reduced to 25 miles per hour. The change included Ocean Parkway, despite the fact that, unlike most New York City streets, Ocean Parkway is a heavily-trafficked bidirectional six-lane highway. Since reducing the speed limit on the highway to 25 miles per hour, the DOT has added speed cameras along the highway to ticket unsuspecting drivers, many of whom are simply driving with the flow of traffic.
“Through the placement of these cameras, the DOT has turned portions of Ocean Parkway into an unfair speed trap,” Greenfield said. “This is an example of a New York agency failing to listen to the concerns of New Yorkers. Our transportation policy should not be about making money but rather the safety of New Yorkers.”
Since the imposition of the new speed limit, area residents have reported an increase in traffic on the narrower residential roads around Ocean Parkway as drivers attempt to avoid increased traffic on the busy highway. Greenfield’s office routinely fields calls from area residents who are unhappy with the changes, and Greenfield wrote his letter to the Department of Transportation in an attempt to bring greater transparency to the issue for his constituents.
“Speed cameras can be a useful tool to promote driver and pedestrian safety, but when they are used in conjunction with an unfairly low speed limit, we have a classic speedtrap,” Greenfield said. “At a minimum, the DOT should be up-front with Brooklyn residents and reveal how much money it’s making from its unfair speed trap on Ocean Parkway.”
(YWN Desk – NYC)
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11 Responses
Greenfield can speak for himself I am a member of the community and I am completely for lowering the speed on Ocean Parkway.
Ocean Parkway is a 10 lane Avenue shared by cars and pedestrians, numerous members of our community have been killed and maimed r”l because drivers tend to treat it as a raceway speeding from one red light to the next, common sense and the care for the value of human life dictate that such a road have a low speed limit and be heavily enforced.
I live on Ocean Parkway, traffic has become a nightmare, 25 miles on a road it is ridiculously low! no roads has such requirements or speed limits in NYC ever, it much harder for emergency vehicles to pass through now than ever before, they must use louder sirens to get through because of congested highway has become an unfair practice while citizens want to get home. if u want to reduce speed limit make then after working hours that’s were the most young teens fly by after school hours.
@#1. common sense also dictates that a 6 lane road have a speed limit greater than 25mph.
Thankyou
@#3 You are right if the road is a limited access expressway with no pedestrians crossing at every light (including children and the elderly). If it was up to me I would double the size of the pedestrian medians and reduce the driving lanes to 2 lanes in each direction (plus the turning lane) to reduce fatalities and injuries. If you want an expressway make an elevated or underground road from the prospect to the belt with exits (or alternatively add pedestrian bridges although that would inconvenience pedestrians, especially the elderly)
BTW I live and drive in Brooklyn, and I consider myself a staunch conservative and do not agree with De Blasio on most his agenda, however regarding Vision Zero he is a 100% right.
What he should be looking for is how it has reduced the number of accidents.
I think this can cause more accidents. People will drive with the flow but slam on their brakes when approaching a camera not to get ticketed.
Those that drive recklessly will continue to do so whether the speed limit is 25 or 45.
#1 you are totally wrong. Pedestrians don’t belong crossing when it says DONT WALK. When it is green for cars the speed limit should be at least 45 mph! Greenfeld is correct ( As always!)
Deblasio instituted the speed limit because he claimed it would save lives. I think we should change all city streets including Ocean Parkway to a speed limit of 5 miles an hour. We should also forbid people from crossing streets. Think how many lives would be saved.
Unrealistic rules and regulations only infringe on our rights and abilities to live a productive life.
The traffic cameras do not ticket cars until they go at least 10 MPH over the speed limit. So WHO CARES if the city lowered the speed limit to 25 on Ocean? The people being ticketed are violating THE OLD speed limit, and Reb Dovid should not be wasting his time defending them.
The numbers Greenfield should be asking the city about is how many fewer people have been hit or killed thanks to the speed cameras. Many of the people getting these tickets are not residents, but scum driving through the neighborhood who could care less if they ran over a baby stroller.