Speed camera masquerade as mayor’s new cash cow
They’re earning the city more than $15,000 per day — and that’s just for a single school zone camera that is limited to operating during school hours only.
The city’s latest cash cow disguised as a “safety program” to make roadways safer near school zones is the new speed cameras that have been installed all over New York City. Since school is now open, these speed cameras have been operational, and I have encountered dozens of people who have received a $50 “no-point” speeding summonses from the city. These unfortunate motorists were ticketed for driving 10 mph over the posted speed limit where these one‑armed bandits were waiting for them.
Speed cameras currently allow a leeway of 10 mph over the speed limit before a summons is issued. That 10 mph will surely fall or be eliminated altogether as the need for city revenue increases. This latest version of political snake oil has been foisted upon the motoring public as a safety measure. Yet it’s clear that the locations of these speed camera money machines have been carefully selected to maximize revenue rather than reduce pedestrian fatalities. Most serious accidents are caused by drinking or road rage recklessness. Speed cameras will neither decrease nor halt this behavior. If the true intention was to slow traffic down, then posting large signs “Warning: Speed Camera Ahead” would do the trick. Deliberately concealing their existence fails to encourage safer driving, but does succeed in keeping motorist dollars flowing into New York City coffers as an alternate form of taxation
Predictably, as the need for municipal revenue increases, an endless stream of politicians will call for improved “safety” and parade themselves before the cameras seeking changes in the speed camera program. First to be rescinded will be the 10 mph leeway before a vehicle is subject to ticketing. Next, the cameras will be set to operate 24 hours a day instead of being limited to school hours. Then the $50 fine will increase and the program will be extended from local streets to highways. The windfall will be unprecedented, precipitating another round of spending.
Two examples of speed cameras installed to maximize revenue instead of promoting safety are located on the LIE service road in Fresh Meadows and Union Turnpike in Bellerose. Traveling east on the Long Island Expressway and exiting at Francis Lewis Blvd., you cross the first speed camera less than 100 feet from the Expressway’s exit. Positioned on the LIE service road, it provides inadequate time to decelerate subjecting hundreds of motorists a day to a fine. One driver presumably caught here – posted a handwritten sign warning “Speed Trap Ahead.”
The other money machine for the city is a speed camera inexplicably located on a desolate stretch of Union Turnpike in Bellerose. This speed camera was placed on the westbound side just past the Padavan School Campus. There are no homes and no sidewalks on the camera side of the road. This camera was either placed here, beyond the school zone by mistake or simply as a means to maximize revenue for the city. There is no other explanation.
If the city’s other speed cameras are raising revenue at the same rate as these two cameras, the mayor will have no problem paying for his ideological-driven agenda. His first budget contained billions of dollars of looming deficits. These speed cameras are the pot of gold the mayor will need to cover them.
These revenue-producing cameras are largely hitting the middle class. Is it any wonder that so many of them are leaving the city? No doubt the regulators will find a way to get them, one last time, with a speed camera, as they depart the city.
Bob Friedrich is president of Glen Oaks Village and a civic leader
