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| Atlantic Avenue speed limit lower to 25 mph (292076) | |||
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Atlantic Avenue speed limit lower to 25 mph |
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Posted by Gold_12th on Thu Apr 10 14:13:09 2014 Drivers using a major thoroughfare in Brooklyn and Queens will soon face a slower speed limit of 25 miles an hour, the latest step in Mayor Bill de Blasio's campaign to reduce pedestrian deaths. A nearly 8-mile stretch of Atlantic Avenue, from the East River in Brooklyn to the Woodhaven neighborhood in Queens, will see new speed-limit postings and blue signs declaring the corridor a "slow zone" by the end of the month, city officials announced Wednesday. But the speed-limit reduction will be modest: down from 30 miles an hour. That is why city officials say New York city police will couple the reduction with a crackdown on speeding and other traffic violations. Polly Trottenberg, the city's transportation commissioner, said arteries such as Atlantic account for only 15% of New York City's roadways but see about 60% of pedestrian deaths. The city cited 13 pedestrian deaths along Atlantic Avenue from 2008 to 2012. "Crashes on these roads tend to be more deadly," she told reporters along Atlantic Avenue near the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn, as cars and trucks rumbled behind her. "With wide lanes, unfortunately they encourage speeding. Pedestrian crossings are difficult." The stretch of Atlantic Avenue is the first of 25 such "arterial slow zones" officials say they'll put into place across New York City as part of Mr. de Blasio's "Vision Zero" plan to make streets safer for pedestrians. Ms. Trottenberg declined to say where else and when the city will roll out other "arterial slow zones." But she said they would come to all five boroughs, with "quite a few of them in Brooklyn and Queens." The timing of traffic lights on Atlantic Avenue will also change, though city officials offered few specifics. "If a driver goes the speed limit, they'll be able to get through a lot of lights, not every light," Ms. Trottenberg said. "We want to create a street where driving the appropriate speed limit feels right, and drivers will slow down." New York City Police Chief Thomas Chan, of the department's transportation division, said officers would focus their enforcement on speeders, but also drivers who make improper turns and use cellphones. Ms. Trottenberg said state restrictions on where the city could use speed-enforcement cameras would limit enforcement efforts in the slow zones. The city can currently use the cameras only in school zones, on school days between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m."That's a bigger issue we're going to need to tackle in Albany," she said. The city's announcement drew some initial skepticism from drivers in the area. Some didn't know what the current limit even was. "It's too slow," Daniel Levi, 45, who runs a restaurant equipment business on Atlantic Avenue, said when told of the avenue's coming speed limit. "I don't think people are flying over here." At the Simply Beautiful Salon down the block, owner Karene Richard thinks a slower speed limit could make the street safer. She has seen more pedestrians near the arena in recent years, and she doesn't want her clients to get hurt. "They do speed," said Ms. Richard, as she prepped a customer's hair for shampooing. "And it's way more than 35" miles an hour. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303603904579491760037520256?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303603904579491760037520256.html |
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