Cut NYC Speed Limit To Below 25 MPH, Politician Says

WEST VILLAGE, NY — A Lower Manhattan politician is doing his best to lower the speed limit in New York City.

On Tuesday, State Senator Brad Hoylman introduced "Sammy's Law," which would repeal the current requirement that speed limits in New York City cannot be lower than 25 mph or lower than 15 mph in school zones.

Hoylman represents a large stretch of Manhattan, including Greenwich Village and the West Village.

The State Legislature lowered speed limits across New York City in 2014, but a long-standing state mandate limited politicians from going below the 25 mph and 15 mph markers.

The legislation gets its name after Samuel Cohen Eckstein, a 12-year-old boy who was hit and killed by a driver in Brooklyn in 2013.

Tuesday would have been his 20th birthday.

"As the New York City body count from traffic fatalities grows to a six-year high, it makes absolutely no sense that Albany won't let the City lower its speed limit," Hoylman said in a news release. "Sammy's Law will give New York City the power to lower speed limits in a way that is tailored to neighborhoods' actual safety needs."

As of the end of November 2020, New York City has seen 224 deaths from car-related traffic incidents, a 14.9 percent increase from the same time last year, according to Hoylman's office.

While less driving has taken place in New York City due to the coronavirus pandemic, complaints of drag racing have skyrocketed in the five boroughs. According to Gothamist, NYC's speeding cameras issued 3.7 million tickets to drivers in the first 10 months of the year, more than double the total over the same period last year.

Multiple major cities across the country have already authorized speed limits of lower than 25 mph, including Washington D.C., Portland, Oregon, Boulder, Colorado, Seattle, Washington, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.