New York City has opened the way to lower vehicle speed limits to 20 miles per hour. On the 18th, New York Governor Cathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature agreed to include the so-called ‘Sammy’s Law’, which lowers New York City’s vehicle speed limit by 5 mph from the current 25 mph to 20 mph, in the final budget agreement.
As a result, the speed limit lowering has begun. However, roads where speed limits apply are limited to two-lane roads in one direction. “With this agreement, New York City and the City Council will have the authority to lower New York City’s vehicle speed limit to 20 mph,” the governor and state lawmakers said today. The ‘Sammy Bill’, first proposed by State Senator Brad Hoylman (Democrat, Manhattan) in 2021, did not see the light of day as its submission to the plenary session was canceled at the time. However, as the bill (S2422B/A7266A), which was re-introduced with the same content in the state legislature this year, was included in both the governor’s budget and the state Senate budget, attention was focused on its inclusion in the final agreed upon budget.
State Representative Linda Rosenthal (Democrat, Manhattan), who submitted a bill with the same content to the State House as Representative Hoylman, said, “Lowering the vehicle speed limit can prevent numerous losses of life.” “I hope that ‘Sammy’s Law’ will be implemented in New York City as soon as possible,” he said. The re-introduced bill includes a statement that the number of pedestrian deaths has decreased by 36% due to the Vision Zero (zero pedestrian deaths) policy that New York City implemented in 2014 by lowering the vehicle speed limit by 5 miles per hour from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour.
According to statistics from the American Automobile Association (AAA), the risk of death for pedestrians hit by a vehicle traveling 23 miles per hour was only 10%. 9 out of 10 pedestrians (91%) hit by vehicles traveling 15 miles per hour did not suffer serious injuries, and there were almost no deaths.
On the other hand, the risk of death increased rapidly as the speed increased, such as 25% at 32 miles per hour, 50% at 42 miles per hour, 75% at 50 miles per hour, and 90% at 58 miles per hour.
Meanwhile, ‘Sammy’s Law’, named after Sammy Cohen Eckstein, a 13-year-old girl who died in a car accident near her Brooklyn home in 2013, aims to reduce vehicle speed limits in the city.