Vision Zero picks up speed
Comments
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The red light cameras seem to have a good ROI
Prepared by Bernard O’Brien
New York City Independent Budget Office
"Preliminary data for fiscal year 2014 indicate the city received about $41 million in revenue from camera-generated red-light, bus-lane, and now speeding summonses, as well as $14 million in ticket revenue from traffic violations written up by police officers. The proportion of revenue generated by cameras rose from 38 percent in 1999 to 75 percent in 2014.
The budget for this fiscal year, 2015, assumes that revenues from these sources will total about $62 million.
The jump (from about $2 million to $8 million) in anticipated revenue from camera-generated speeding summonses is attributable to Albany’s recent approval of an increase of 120 in the number of speed cameras to be installed in school zones across the city. Twenty speed cameras have been in use in the city since January 2014 as part of a pilot program approved last year by the state.
The jump from $24 million in 2007 to $45 milion in 2008 in revenue from red light camera summones followed a state-authorized increase in the number of cameras installed throughout the city.
Revenue from red-light camera summonses also spiked in 2011 to $71 million as a result of a ruling that unpaid red light summonses (in addition to unpaid parking tickets) would count towards the $350 threshold for having your car towed for unpaid tickets. Many motorists were required to pay delinquent red light camera fines that year in order to reclaim their vehicles from the tow pound."
Click for snazzy graph:
http://ibo.nyc.ny.us/cgi-park2/?p=793
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So maybe THAT'S the real reason for reducing the speed limit to 25MPH. Think how much more money could be generated by reducing it to 15MPH !
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Of course it's the real reason. That's why it's being done all over the country. Hell, soon bicyclists that ride faster than 25 will be ticketed.
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Actually red light cameras have a solid history of reducing accidents, injuries and deaths. But yes they do increase the amount of fines. But you know you break the law you face consequences so your really don't have a case to complain.
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Demonstrating the ROI in terms of safer streets is beyond the scope of the NYC Independent Budget Office.
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True but to ignore that return just gives way to emotional knee jerk reactions of "all they want is moneys!"
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For some it may.
Others know that it is difficult to measure those who are alive, but would otherwise not be.
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As a result of calming traffic in Park Slope, the CO of the 78th now gets to oversee the part of the NYPD that has historically done the most work on moving violations: The highway patrol.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/78th-precinct-top-transfers-head-nypd-highway-patrol-article-1.1869410?utm_content=bufferb1c97&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer -
I never said I was against red light cameras. Hell, I even got a ticket from one once but I knew I was wrong and I had no qualms about paying it. I just mentioned that they generate lots of money. Not only for the entities using them but for the companies that maintain them who usually end up with nearly 50% of the revenue.
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Because they don't take points off an driver's lic, red light cameras extract something akin to a sin tax.
Like taxes on alcohol and tobacco, they are imposed under the guise of discouraging consumption. However, they seem to merely tax a population that doesn't seem to mind paying for a rude, unhealthy habit.
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Is drinking alcohol rude? If so, then the bar owners in the area must be major contributors.
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I regard running a red light as being rude and unhealthy.
....because I enjoy alcohol, I regard it as a vitamin.
Note: Not all vitamins are necessary, but all must be consumed in moderation. -
6 Months into Vision Zero: The 77th Pct is cited as being the best (most assertive) in Brooklyn North.
http://transalt.org/files/news/reports/2014/Report-Card-Six_Months_of_Vision_Zero_Traffic_Enforcement.pdf?v=2
Page 5. -
I'm not saying these stats aren't a good thing as far as safety is concerned but I guarantee Mayor Billy is licking his chops at the money this is bringing in.
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Given how much money he is spending on the various municipal union contracts, he is going to need all the money he can get.
The projected "health cost savings" are going to be very hard to achieve.... -
Of course, because the workers don't want to pay for their own health insurance. Unlike me, who shells out $1350 a month for the wife and myself.
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I must admit that even if part of the motivation is raising money thru tickets, I am ok with Vision Zero so far.
....I am impressed that the police have complied with their new orders. -
I'm not sure if anyone on this board remembers TIME'S UP - Critical Mass. It was basically a pro-biking organization that engaged in civil disobedience:http://times-up.org/rides/critical-masshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time's_Up!The group is still around, but as their cause has made progress (bike lanes, citibike, etc), they have lost many of their members. The police also hate them, and effectively now make it very difficult for them to clog and block busy streets.A far milder group (Ghost Bikes) has now taken the limelight. Unlike Time's Up, they pursue their cause (memorializing dead bikers) in a way that is designed not to annoy lots of people: http://ghostbikes.org/Now we have a group that wants to memorialize pedestrian deaths though the rapid application of spray paint:
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There's a ghost bike near me by the Firestone on the corner of Bedford Avenue and Empire Boulevard. I remember that story.It'd be nice to see pedestrian deaths memorialized through spray paint...in addition to makeshift memorials of candles, flowers, and teddy bears.
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NYT article on Broadway (Manhattan) speed limit being lowered from 30 to 25 mph:
A few blocks
south, at 73rd Street and Broadway, where delivery trucks were idling in an
unbroken chain, Anthony Henry, a driver for Fresh Direct who drives this
stretch six days a week, said he thought that the new speed limit would help
get cabdrivers under control.“Yellow cabs come through here speeding all the time,” he
said. “They aren’t giving old ladies enough time to cross the street — they’re
always trying to make the old ladies run,” he said.I don't think lowering speed limits does much; true results come from street redesigns... but symbolic moves in the right direction are better than nothing. -
The average speed in Manhattan is about 6 mph according to the last study that was done so I don't think the slower limit will help much except on the avenue streets. Crosstown it's not going to change a thing. And as for the truck driver complaining about the cabs....well that the pot calling the kettle black because as we all know, everyone tries to make as much time up as they can. If they didn't there would be no jaywalkers either.
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Wondering what Vision Zero entails at the agency level?
It isn't a secret
http://www.nyc.gov/html/visionzero/pages/home/actions.html -
If deBlasio were truly serious about Vision Zero, he would act to make it illegal for pedestrians and cyclists to wear earphones and text/phone while crossing a street. Of course there are bad drivers, but there are also a hell of a lot bad cyclists and pedestrians.I didn't realize that the average crosstown Manhattan speed is 6MPH, pragmatic. Maybe the limit should be lowered to 4 or 5 MPH to further ensure pedestrian and biker safety. LOL
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The law already restricts cyclist to wearing one earbud at a time.If one is going to ban pedestrians from texting while crossing the street, one might as well ban pedestrians from texting while they are walking on the sidewalk!I can see average crosstown Manhattan speed being 6 mph. I drove into Manhattan yesterday. It;s bad. I wonder whether there there should be a separate lights for pedestrian crossing and vehicle movement.
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As the city becomes more populous and wealthy, I think traffic will get worse.
Wealth = huge amounts of commerce and movement of people
Vision Zero will leave the popular lexicon in a few years, and it should be interesting to see if it is deemed a success despite these factors.
Will people declare that, although it may not have reduced traffic or injuries and deaths, there would have been more of them without Vision Zero?
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How does NYC compare to Los Angeles as far as traffic injuries/deaths go? LA is a big city that has limited public transportation options. It is worth noting that pedestrians are much better behaved in LA, and jaywalking is actually enforced (at least more than we are familiar with here in NYC).
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I don't think the city is going to get weathier. I think that a small portion of the city is going to be stupidly wealthy and everyone else is just going to be trapped here, biking and walking because they can't even afford to ride on the bedbug infested subways. Vision Zero is preparing us for this future.
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Subway ridership has certainly soared over the past few years. Annual total rides increased by about 150M between 2007 and 2013.
http://web.mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/index.htm
Yup, some of those riders are going to have bed bugs on them. -
Just for information....one out of every 25 people (or 4%) in NYC is a millionaire so how much more wealthy can the city get? It's a paradox to the statistic that states that NYC is the unhappiest city in the U.S.
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Only if you don't think many people are happiest when they are complaining.
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