Mayor reminds Albany drivers speed limit changes coming soon

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Thousands of drivers in the City of Albany have been issued more than 13,000 tickets by the new speed cameras in school zones. On Tuesday Mayor Kathy Sheehan reminded drivers speed limits will be reduced citywide come the new year.

Albany has implemented many traffic calming measures like speed humps, red light traffic cameras and more recently those school zone cameras. But come January 1 most roads in the city will drop to 25 MPH.

“These are all measures to ensure that people recognize how important it is to slow down,” said Sheehan.

The mayor said although advocates had called on the city to reduce speed limits  they didn’t have the authority to. That was until they lobbied the state legislature to change the law. 

“We got the authority to reduce the speed limit. We did the study that was required by the state and we found that most of our streets we can lower that speed limit to 25 MPH,” said Sheehan.

She said the speed limit reduction will bring the city one step closer to safer streets.

“When we can slow vehicles down, those accidents, as you said, are far less likely to be lethal, far less likely to be serious. And this is a process, it takes time,” said Sheehan.

The goal, Sheehan said, is to bring people into compliance. She said when the red light cameras were first installed it was highly controversial.

“But we have seen a significant reduction in accidents at those intersections where people were running red lights, where we had the most accidents. And we’ve really seen a change in behavior and that’s what we want to see with reducing the speed limit and with these school zones,” said Sheehan.

By law the school zone has to be at least 5 MPH, or lower, than the citywide speed limits. That’s why the speed limit is now 20 MPH in school zones. 

“This is not about money. This is about safety. This is about slowing down,” said Sheehan. “For one individual to have 29 violations in just the first two weeks of this program, pretty stunning.”

Sheehan said the city was authorized to install cameras in 20 school zones and only four are installed and issuing tickets, so far.

“As we see compliance and as we see that speed limit go down to 25, people will already be going slower as they enter those school zones and so it will feel more natural as they slow down and we’re hopeful that we will get our kids to school safely,” sai Sheehan.

Going forward the city will continue to install speed humps in areas identified by council members, likely in areas near parks and schools, after undergoing a traffic count. She said that will continue through the Fall and may continue next year, if the budget passes. 

She said you can expect to see crews taking down the 30 MPH speed limit signs, preparing to install the 25 MPH signs.

“We all have to do our part,” said Sheehan.