As the signs say, ‘Your Speed:’ is going down, in Ridgewood, Glendale and Maspeth according to the 104th Precinct’s commanding officer.
In an attempt to reduce speeding throughout the precinct, portable speed signs have been placed at locations where people have been known to speed. And the program is seeing results.
“We are the only precinct right now in the borough that has these,” Captain Mark Wachter said at the 104th Precinct Community Council meeting on Tuesday night in Maspeth. “Really what I’ve been doing is putting them in areas where we are seeing an increase where, believe it or not, we are getting speeding enforcement. By putting the sign there we’re probably writing less speeding summonses in that area.”
The speed signs have been periodically moving around the precinct to where they are needed the most, with the last few locations requested by members of the neighborhoods. One recent location at which the sign was placed was on Cypress Hills Street, due to a fatality there, and speeding has gone down in that area, Wachter said.
“Once we put the sign up, speed does slow down. It’s people’s natural reaction when they see the flashing on it,” Wachter said. “In the future we will be working on ones that actually record license plates.”
When the speed sign is removed from a particular area and enforcement is returned, Wachter noted, the precinct is seeing less speeding and is giving out less tickets in that area.
“That’s why we move them around to keep it fresh, but to reduce the speed naturally. The goal is for no one to speed … if we can take a certain area where we get a majority of accidents or speeding and teach the public that you’ve got to slow down, it’s good. It’s a win-win situation at the end for both of us.”
