NYC could lower speed limit to 20 mph
NEW YORK - New York City could lower the driving speed limit from 25 to 20 mph as early as this year under ‘Sammy’s Law.'
The law, inspired by a 12-year-old boy killed by a speeding driver in Brooklyn, has already gotten a mass majority in the State Senate.
The measure would allow the city to lower its speed limit from the current 25 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour wherever necessary.
Last year, though, the New York State Assembly ended its 2023 session without voting on the bill.
NEW YORK, NY - An MTA bus and cyclist cross 42nd Street as the sun sets in New York City. (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
At the time, Sammy's mother said "It was unconscionable that they adjourned without passing the bill."
Now, Governor Kathy Hochul says that the New York State budget will acknowledge a version of the law.
The law would give New York City the ability to set its own speed limits throughout the five boroughs without first getting approval from Albany.
Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan), who sponsors the bill, confirmed that it is set for passage.
Why lower the speed limit?
According to Families for Safe Streets, car crashes have killed 110 children 17 and younger.
The bill references a 2011 study by AAA that examined how speed influences the probability that a pedestrian struck by a vehicle will either sustain severe injuries or die.
The study found that an estimated 30% of pedestrians struck by vehicles at 25 mph would sustain serious injury and about 12% would die.
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 07: Vehicles are viewed on a Manhattan Street on November 7, 2014 in New York City. A new 25 miles-per-hour speed limit went into effect city-wide today, down from 30. The new speed limit, which was signed into law by Mayor de
The idea is that if the speed limit is lowered, then so would the probability of death.
Many Assembly members have been fearful of voter backlash if the speed limit is lowered.
By authorizing a 20 mph speed limit, NYC would join Washington, D.C.,, Seattle, Washington, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.