On Monday, April 22nd, Governor Kathy Hochul signed off on the Sammy’s Law portion of the state budget that would allow the NYC speed limit to be lowered to 20 mph. It’s currently set at 25 mph.
Sammy’s Law is named after Sammy Cohen Eckstein, a 12 year old who was killed in Park Slope in 2013 by a speeding car. According to city crash data, 100+ children been killed in traffic collisions in NYC since.
NYC’s current 25 mph speed limit was set in 2014 by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio–dropping from 30 mph–and was approved by the Legislature and former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has found that pedestrians face a 10% risk of death when struck by a car traveling 23 mph. Hopefully the new 20 mph speed limit will increase NYC pedestrian safety.
According to Gothamist, Liz Garcia, a spokesperson for City Hall, stated:
No family should have to suffer through the loss of a loved one due to traffic violence, and the Adams administration has consistently advocated for Sammy’s Law because New York City needs the tools to keep everyone safe on our streets. We worked closely with our state partners and advocates at Families for Safe Streets to get more flexibility to set speed limits in thoughtful, targeted ways, and we are hopeful that this will help prevent senseless tragedies while honoring the life of Sammy Cohen Eckstein.
Streets with three or more lanes in one direction will maintain the current speed limit of 25 miles an hour, and a small number of streets will be reduced to 10 mph.
The speed limit decrease is part of the $237 billion NY State budget, passed by lawmakers over this past weekend. Nixed from the state budget was NYC’s free public bus pilot program.