Councilman Greenfield Demands to Know How Much Money City Makes from Ocean Parkway Speedtrap

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david-greenfieldBrooklyn, NY – Councilman David G. Greenfield has written a letter to the New York City Department of Transportation demanding that the agency reveal how much revenue it has taken in from speed cameras placed along Ocean Parkway.

“The DOT promised me that they would not lower the speed limit on Ocean Parkway without community input and consent. The community is completely against lowering the speed on Ocean Parkway. We can’t let arbitrary rules trump common sense,” Greenfield said. “As I made clear to the DOT when they were considering these changes last year, Ocean Parkway is not an appropriate street for a 25 mile per hour speed limit.”

Last year, as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero initative, the default speed limit on all New York City roads was reduced to 25 miles per hour. The change included Ocean Parkway, despite the fact that, unlike most New York City streets, Ocean Parkway is a heavily-trafficked bidirectional six-lane highway. Since reducing the speed limit on the highway to 25 miles per hour, the DOT has added speed cameras along the highway to ticket unsuspecting drivers, many of whom are simply driving with the flow of traffic.

“Through the placement of these cameras, the DOT has turned portions of Ocean Parkway into an unfair speed trap,” Greenfield said. “This is an example of a New York agency failing to listen to the concerns of New Yorkers. Our transportation policy should not be about making money but rather the safety of New Yorkers.”

Since the imposition of the new speed limit, area residents have reported an increase in traffic on the narrower residential roads around Ocean Parkway as drivers attempt to avoid increased traffic on the busy highway. Greenfield’s office routinely fields calls from area residents who are unhappy with the changes, and Greenfield wrote his letter to the Department of Transportation in an attempt to bring greater transparency to the issue for his constituents.

“Speed cameras can be a useful tool to promote driver and pedestrian safety, but when they are used in conjunction with an unfairly low speed limit, we have a classic speedtrap,” Greenfield said. “At a minimum, the DOT should be up-front with Brooklyn residents and reveal how much money it’s making from its unfair speed trap on Ocean Parkway.”

{Matzav.com Newscenter}


11 COMMENTS

  1. A 25 mph limit on residential streets makes a lot of sense. On streets with multiple lanes in each direction, such as Ft. Hamilton Parkway, Coney Island Ave. and Ocean Ave, less so. On restricted access Ocean Parkway, which has no parking and no pedestrians, it makes no sense at all.

  2. A famous Chazal saying, mitoich Sheloi Lishmah Bo Lishma. Who cares how much money they make. If one life is saved because of it, its well worth it.

    What ever the speed limit is, obey it, and you wont get ticketed

  3. To comment#4 (mordy): Here’s a starter. How about crossing when the light turns green for the pedestrians? This way you wont get hit. Very novel idea, no?

  4. Its insane for ocean parkway to have a 25 mph speed limit. But to answer #4 then put in more red light cams. Its a problem everywhere in Flatbush. People running reds is much worse then going 40 down op.

  5. Ocean Parkway is a 9 lane boulevard shared by cars and pedestrians alike , numerous people have been killed and maimed on it r”l because drivers tend to treat it as a raceway speeding from one red light to the next. Common sense and the care for the value of human life dictate that such a road should have a low speed limit and it should be heavily enforced. Besides lowering the speed limit the city should double the size of the pedestrian medians and reduce the driving lanes to 2 lanes in each direction (plus the turning lane) to reduce fatalities and injuries. If the city wants an expressway it should make an elevated or underground road from the Prospect to the Belt with exits or alternatively add pedestrian bridges (although that would inconvenience pedestrians, especially the elderly)

  6. To #’s 5,9 etc… maybe we should ban pedestrians and cars altogether, think how many lives we can save. We should also ban planes, buses, trains, ovens, baths, showers ad infinitum.

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