New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced that speed limits are being lowered in certain areas following the enactment of Sammy’s Law.
This measure gives the city authority to reduce speed limits to 20 mph on individual streets and 10 mph on streets undergoing safety-related redesigns.
Sammy’s Law, which went into effect in NYC on Oct. 9, is named after Sammy Cohen Eckstein, a 12-year-old who was struck and killed by a speeding driver in 2013.
The driver responsible was speeding over the 30 mph limit in a busy residential area.
Eckstein’s story has prompted officials to pass measures aimed at reducing the number of such accidents.
The first area to see a speed limit reduction is Prospect Park West in Brooklyn, where 20 mph signs have been installed. It is also the street where Sammy was struck.
“A hard-fought win, Sammy’s Law is a simple yet powerful way to reduce traffic violence and protect our most vulnerable road users,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said.
“Starting along the Park Slope stretch where Sammy Cohen Epstein was struck and killed by a driver, the newly implemented Sammy’s Law speed limits are a critical first step in our effort to build safer streets in New York,” Levine continued.
The DOT also plans to create a Regional Slow Zone in Lower Manhattan. These slow zones, which are defined areas with a lower speed limit than other nearby streets, are meant to create a safer traffic environment.
By the end of 2025, speed limits will be reduced in 250 locations, with a focus on schools and newly designated Slow Zones across the city.
Additionally, speed limits of 15 mph will be implemented at 47 school zones throughout NYC.
Amy Cohen, Eckstein’s mother, co-founded “Families for Safe Streets,” an organization dedicated to raising awareness about traffic violence.
She has remained committed to making sure that incidents like Sammy’s do not happen in the future.
“The United States fares abysmally in pedestrian safety and traffic fatalities compared to every other industrialized nation – we’re at the bottom of the West and four times as dangerous per capita as all of Europe, Australia and Japan, and twice as dangerous as Canada. It does not have to be this way,” Cohen said in a statement.
After years of Cohen’s advocacy, Sammy’s Law has finally been put into effect.
“I want to thank Amy Cohen Eckstein and Sammy’s entire family for their tireless advocacy,” Rodriguez said.
“Without Amy and ‘Families for Safe Streets,’ we wouldn’t 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.
