Legislators in the state of New York are on the verge of fulfilling a heartfelt wish for a grieving mother by advancing “Sammy’s Law,” which would permit New York City to reduce speed limits to 20 miles per hour. The NY Post reports that lawmakers are racing against the clock as they aim to pass the legislation before the legislative session adjourns on June 8.
The law is named after Sammy Cohen Eckstein, a 12-year-old boy who tragically lost his life after being struck by a car in Prospect Park back in October 2013. Devastated by the incident, Sammy’s mother, Amy Cohen, transformed her grief into activism for street safety.
Amy Cohen expressed her relief at the potential passage of the law, calling it a long-overdue measure. The legislation was initially introduced in 2020, and she voiced frustration that it has taken three years of relentless advocacy to reach this point.
The bill is expected to receive approval from both the state Senate and Assembly after New York City lawmakers officially requested its implementation, a crucial step that was missed last year, resulting in the bill’s failure.
State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a sponsor of the bill in the Senate, expressed optimism about its prospects, stating that things were looking promising, although cautioning that nothing is certain until it is finalized.
In recent years, the city witnessed a resurgence in traffic fatalities despite significant efforts to reduce them through the “Vision Zero” initiative. However, this unfortunate trend could potentially be reversed if lower speed limits are implemented.
Hoylman-Sigal argued that decisions about street-level matters within the five boroughs should not be determined by senators in other areas, emphasizing the need for local control and understanding of the unique circumstances in densely populated urban environments like Manhattan.
Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who is sponsoring the bill in the Assembly, expressed hopefulness about its chances, citing increased support from colleagues in recent months. She recalled attending one of the earliest news conferences after Sammy’s tragic death, advocating for safer streets for pedestrians. Rosenthal believes that the familiarity with the proposal and the progress made so far bode well for its success.
Research has shown that the risk of fatality in traffic crashes sharply increases when vehicles exceed 20 miles per hour. According to ProPublica, someone struck by a car traveling at 30 miles per hour is 70% more likely to be killed compared to someone struck at 25 miles per hour.
{Matzav.com}
These dangerous e-motor cycles and e-scooters go even faster and they carry no insurance whatsoever! They can also go on sidewalks. They even have the right of way wherever they go, whenever they. They don’t get summonses.
Everyone yields for them! A much better choice than horses! We New Yorkers are the dumb mules because we allow it.
give fines and jail time for jaywalking and u will solve the problem (and crossing the street while using a phone)
With deficits run amok the city needs more revenue. Plain and simple. It has nothing to do with safety
In recent years, the city witnessed a resurgence in traffic fatalities despite significant efforts to reduce them through the “Vision Zero” initiative.
So then obviously “Vision Zero” was a failure. That being the case they may as well move the speed limit back to 30 MPH
A common straw man criticism of the charedie world is “they want to bring back the horse and buggy” Were it not for there concern for horses rights the liberals would literally try to bring back horse and buggies. Ostensibly to fight climate change and save lives.
Does this mean that bicycles, scooters, and motorbikes will be kept off sidewalks? This city has become a calamitous joke. Wasn’t DiBlasio enough?
And the chances of fatality in a traffic accident are much higher at 20 mph than they are at 5 mph, so let’s just slow it down to five. But then again the chances are worse at 5 mph than they are at no miles an hour, so get rid of driving all together.
You finally understand what the goal of the liberal WOKE leftists.The next thing up their sleeve is to get rid of curbside parking by putting garbage containers there.
To reduce the number of pedestrians who get killed by cars, build Pedestrian Bridges, that enable pedestrians to walk OVER the car traffic, instead of competing with cars for the same space.
There are too many dangerous motor vehicles speeding around town.
This is a great idea, they need to be reigned in.
Those who believe in this joke should move to amish country. There you can only go around in horse and wagon. Then the rest of us humans can live in peace.
more people get hurt or killed my all these bicycles, scooters and ebikes that ride wildly through the streets than by cars. and as for the wild car drivers that hurt or kill people, they wont stop just because the limit is lowered to 20mph.
all these politicians should all have a mapala and “zullen gayn teef in drerd azi vee koirach”. its impossible to live in this city and for some its unfortunately not possible to leave the city because of family/work situations.
Why not ban cars altogether?
That’s what the Green new deal is all about. The rich white elitists want YOU to get rid of your vehicle, BUT NOT THEM! These rich white elitist pigs want to control you. They fly to Europe for a save the earth conference in their JUMBO JETS, polluting the world, in order to lecture the poor shlub peasants how evil they are. Klaus Schwab and Yuval Harari say it outright but you dumb stupid gullible taxpaying sheeple are to busy fighting over wether the disposable mask you’re wearing is high enough to your eyebrows.
Banning cars would be great, but how would we balance the budget without giving numerous tickets to every upstanding individual in this City?
They will ticket for sucking to much oxygen. You will only be allowed 2 intakes per minute. Anything more will cost $100 per breath. Welcome to socialism tied together with wokeism. But if you’re a white elitist, you can do whatever the h you want.
Florida, Texas, north Carolina
Horses actually go much faster than 20MPH, and if you’ve ever been struck by a horse, you know it can be fatal even at standstill…
There are too many cars, trucks, SUV’s already around that cause so much trouble, such as accidents, air pollution, noise, arguments, traffic, loss of time, obesity. Many more were acquired during the pandemic period than were around previously.
That number should be greatly reduced, through higher taxes and fees on them, if not stronger measures.
Give the streets back to the people, instead of having them be giant parking lots.
Nice tongue in cheek
They are parking lots because the city took away hundreds if not thousands of spaces. Some for vision zero. Some for outdoor dining. Some for bike parking lots. Then they paid people not to work, so they drive around bored. Non of your ideas resolve anything. They just hurt the hard working middle class.
NY State Senate is thee most corrupt in the entire country.