Combating excessive speeding was the leading recommendation provided by New York City residents during the Vision Zero town halls and workshops held by the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) and New York City Police Department (NYPD) in 2014. That same year, NYC launched an automated speed enforcement pilot that implemented speed cameras to help manage speeds in school zones.

The speed cameras use the same radar and laser technology relied upon by law enforcement to measure a vehicle’s speed. If a vehicle is found to be exceeding the speed limit by more than ten miles per hour within a school speed zone during school hours, the driver of the vehicle will be issued a Notice of Liability (NOL).

It should be noted that City-law only permitted the use of speed cameras for enforcement within school speed zones, which are defined by law as the street abutting the school building or property within 1,320 feet of the school. Additionally, the City was only allowed to deter speeding with speed cameras when school/students activities were in session.

For the pilot, fixed speed cameras were installed at 140 of the City’s 2,300 school zones. In order to prioritize where the City would install the fixed speed cameras, DOT analyzed each school zone and ranked them according to the number of traffic injuries during school hours on school days. In addition, 40 mobile cameras were repositioned frequently throughout the City, resulting in the activation of the mobile units at an additional 875 school zone locations since the program’s inception.

Costs for the speed camera program (Calendar Year 2014-2016) are summarized in the table below: