Cars registered outside of New York City account for nearly half of all drivers caught by city speed cameras, Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said Monday.
Over 40 percent of speed-camera tickets issued in October 2021 were issued to vehicles registered outside of the city, according to DOT figures.
And two-thirds of violators since the Big Apple began using cameras in 2014 lived at least three miles away from where they committed the violation.
“Most violators are not residents of the neighborhoods where the cameras are located,” Rodriguez told City Council members during a hearing held on the topic of “transit equity.”
Rodriguez and his Department of Transportation colleagues defended the cameras, which have faced some scrutiny from new council members.
Injuries and speeding both declined at camera locations after installation, and “the majority” of drivers have not committed more than two camera violations, according to DOT.
“When the speed cameras are installed in the area, there is a reduction of crashes,” the commissioner said. “No one should be driving more than 25 miles an hour in New York City, regardless of their socio-economic and racial background or their community.”
“If our communities don’t want to get a speed camera [ticket], all they have to do is to drive 25 miles per hour,” the city’s primary speed limit, he said.
The Transportation Department dramatically expanded the number of cameras and camera zones beginning in 2019 — to some 750 locations across the city.
Revenue from the cameras goes entirely into the city’s general fund, DOT said — in contrast to other American cities where contractors receive a cut off the top.
Rodriguez has called on the State Legislature to give city DOT full control of its cameras — which are currently limited by state law, including in the times of day when they are allowed to operate.