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NYPD Very Proud Of Self For Issuing Some Speeding Tickets Last Weekend
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 17, 2013
Modified Oct 17, 2013
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 17, 2013
Modified Oct 17, 2013
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As everyone in NYC knows, you can drive like a psychotic maniac and plow over everyone in your path without facing any consequences. As long as you don't have tinted windows. But for three magical days last weekend, the NYPD decided to enforce the speed limit in New York. Are cops even allowed to do that?!
According to a self-congratulatory press release from the NYPD, officers issued 736 speeding summonses to motorists last weekend, from Friday through Sunday. (The statement doesn't say how many cyclists got speeding tickets.) The press release continues breaks it down further:
Traffic fatalities are down 30 percent over the past decade but speeding remains the leading contributor of collisions citywide. There were 266 summonses issued in Queens, 213 in the Bronx, 113 in Brooklyn, 97 in Manhattan and 47 in Staten Island.
The city has established 14 neighborhood “slow zones” and is in the process of finalizing 15 additional. Nine-hundred and ten speed bumps have been installed, and anti-speed zones near 146 schools have been implemented in the last six years.
Various initiatives to combat speeding include the city’s first speed cameras installed earlier this fall, the neighborhood slow zones, and speed bumps.
The speed limit, by the way, is 30 mph, except in places where it's even lower. But earlier this year we learned that only one officer per precinct is actually trained to use a speed radar gun. And in some precincts there are almost no speeding tickets issued, ever. Midtown South's Precinct handed out ZERO speeding tickets in 2012. Midtown North issued one. The 7th Precinct, home to Delancey Street and the spot where a 12-year-old girl was killed by a van a year ago, issued a mere 14 citations for speeding in 2012.
In April, Transportation Alternatives used a radar gun to clock cars across the city. According to their data, after eight hours in Canarsie's 115th Precinct, 194 drivers exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph or more, with the fastest driver traveling 59 mph in a 30 mph zone. Total number of speeding violations handed out by the 115th precinct for all of 2012? 163.
Anyway, the takeaway here is that if you drive your Delorean back in time to last weekend, you'll want to keep it under 40.
Tagged
nypd
reckless drivers
speeding
original
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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