Dangerous Roads newsletter: Speed camera tickets spreading, but more tools needed to slow drivers

Dangerous Roads town hall tonight

If you’re reading this before Tuesday evening, there’s still time for you to join Newsday’s Dangerous Roads town hall event tonight at our Melville studios at 6 p.m. NewsdayTV’s Shari Einhorn will lead a conversation that will include me, fellow transportation reporter Peter Gill, deputy editor David Schwartz and data solutions journalist Karthika Namboothiri. We’ll also be joined by a number of road safety advocates and families who have lost loved ones in vehicle crashes.

As we’re still toward the beginning of our yearlong Dangerous Roads investigative series, key goals of tonight’s event are to gather ideas for improving road safety and hear stories we can share on this critically important topic. Seats are limited, so register right away. And do come by and say hello.

LI's disproportionate speed camera tickets

In a recent Newsday story about the disproportionately high number of work zone speeding tickets issued on Long Island, former New York City transportation commissioner Lucius Riccio tried to convey the dangers faced by highway workers. He asked fellow Newsday reporter Lorena Mongelli: "What if I took your desk and put it in the middle lane of the Cross Bronx Expressway?"

In such a nightmare scenario, I know what kind of safety equipment I’d want around me: about 100 neon signs covering every inch of my perimeter with flashing arrows pointing at me and warning, "Look out! Alfonso’s working here!"

While there is typically some signage at work zones, New York lawmakers’ most recent plan to improve highway worker safety would expand the use of automated speed cameras to New York City bridges and tunnels.

A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul said the measure was aimed at safety for "workers and travelers alike." The state issued about 54,000 tickets on Long Island since the program started in 2023, more than 40% of the state's total.

But others questioned the motivation for installing speed cameras, which raised nearly $5.8 million through tickets starting at $50, and said there are better solutions

A skeptic of automated traffic enforcement, Jay Beeber, executive director of policy for the driver advocacy group National Motorists Association, said more work zone speed limit signs and "speed feedback" signs, "not just one at the beginning of the work zone," can change driver behavior. "That is proven to improve safety and slow drivers down much more effectively than mailing them a ticket."

If the true goal is generating revenue, then there’s little incentive for the state to make much of an effort to warn drivers that they’re approaching a work zone. "If you were to do these programs properly ... then you would do everything you can to get compliance first," Beeber said. "But you would not be able to run a profit."

Having opened my share of envelopes with a ticket and picture of my minivan inside, I'd say camera enforcement is effective in changing driver behavior. But it can’t be the only tool.

Hochul’s office told me that the revenue raised from work zone fines is put back into developing work zone safety programs. That’s good to hear. Hopefully those programs have as much, if not more, to do with slowing drivers before they speed through a work zone, and not just punishing them after they do.

For now, I’ll keep my desk where it is — in the Newsday newsroom.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.