A NEW traffic law has been introduced that will force drivers to lower their speed from 25 to 20 mph in certain locations.
Sammy’s Law will enforce a strict 20 mph speed limit along a 19-block stretch in Brooklyn‘s Prospect Park West neighborhood, from Grand Army Plaza to Bartel-Pritchard Square.
The new law, named after 12-year-old Sammy Eckstein, who was killed in 2013 by a speeding driver, went into effect on Wednesday.
“A driver’s speed can mean the difference between life and death in a traffic crash, so the speed limit reductions we are making will help protect everyone who shares our busy streets,” Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez told Gothamist.
“I want to thank Amy Cohen Eckstein and Sammy’s entire family for their tireless advocacy to give New York City the legal authority we needed to reduce speed limits.”
The law will enforce a 20 mph speed limit along the 19-block stretch and 10 mph on streets undergoing safety-related redesigns, the outlet reported.
The Department of Transportation will implement a regional slow zone in Lower and Upper Manhattan next.
In Upper Manhattan, drivers will see the new speed limits implemented along a 1.4-mile stretch of Audubon Avenue in the Washington Heights section.
And by the end of 2025, the department will enforce lower speed limits in 250 additional locations across the city.
The first locations to see the new speed laws will include schools, open streets, and shared streets.
“Without Amy and Families for Safe Streets, the group she founded in response to Sammy’s tragic death, we would be here today – honoring her son’s memory and preventing other families from experiencing the same grief of losing a loved one to traffic violence,” Rodriguez added.
“Yesterday marked 11 years since my 12-year-old son was run over and killed right here on Prospect Park West,” Gary Eckstein, Sammy’s father, said.
“If traffic had been moving more slowly, Sammy and the driver of the van would have had more time to see each other and avoid a collision.”
‘TERRORIZING THE COMMUNITIES’
Meanwhile, lawmakers aim to crack down on brazen drivers performing dangerous stunts on public streets in Suffolk County, New York.
The illegal car meet-ups occur throughout different parts of Long Island’s Suffolk County, where reckless drivers take over intersections, performing burnouts and donuts.
The dangerous tirade prompted lawmakers to draft a flurry of stiffer rules, including ramped-up fines and seizing cars from the road.
The enforcement will be carried out by members of the task force that investigated the Gilgo Beach murders and the case against accused serial killer Rex Heuermann.
“They are terrorizing the communities,” State Senator Anthony Palumbo said of the car meets.
Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico added, “These cars are being used as weapons on the roadway, spinning around recklessly with a disregard for human life.”
In Miller Place, in the Town of Brookhaven, an ambulance carrying a patient having a heart attack was blocked for 15 minutes due to the illegal car meets.
If an emergency vehicle is blocked, police would have “the ability to seize the vehicle and really have a heavy hand so folks won’t do this,” Palumbo said.
Suffolk County Police began impounding vehicles seized at car meet-ups in 2022.
A year later, at least 111 vehicles were seized.
How to fight a speeding ticket
According to a legally reviewed post, there are five effective strategies to fighting a speeding ticket if it was wrongfully issued.
- If pulled over and issued a ticket, drivers can argue or dispute a driver’s personal opinion. When issuing a speeding ticket, an officer is required to write their opinion and come to an “objective” conclusion. If the ticket was written based on that judgment, it can be contested. An example would be if you were going 75 mph in a 65 mph zone because others were traveling at the same speed, you could argue that it would be more dangerous to travel at 65 mph.
- You can dispute the officer’s presentation of evidence. If you were ticketed for something like running a stop sign or making an illegal u-turn, you can’t contest that if an officer saw you, but you can call things into court like eyewitnesses, diagrams, or photos.
- Argue that the ticket was issued by a “mistake of fact.” This is tricky, but a “mistake of fact” is a mistake made by a driver about a situation that was beyond their control, or if a driver legitimately did not know they were violating the law. For example, you were driving in two lanes because the lane markers were so worn down that you could not see them.
- You could say circumstances justified your driving. You could say you were speeding to pass a possibly drunk driver, or avoiding an accident by rapidly changing lanes. However, the argument won’t work if there’s proof you continued to speed after passing.
- Similar to the above, it could be argued that speeding was necessary to avoid harm. The key is to argue that if you weren’t speeding, you or someone else could have been harmed.
- Consult a traffic attorney, if all else fails. Many have free consultations to decide whether or not there’s a case.
Source: FindLaw
