State lawmakers are set to include Sammy’s Law in the forthcoming state budget, allowing New York City to lower its speed limit to 20 miles per hour, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Thursday.
Hochul confirmed during an unrelated news conference in Manhattan Thursday afternoon that the measure would make it into the budget, which has still not been finalized nearly three weeks after it was due.
In her remarks, Hochul noted that she is not keen on the fact that local speed limits, in New York City and elsewhere, are up to Albany rather than the localities themselves.
“It should be up to localities. So we’re trying to shift the culture in many ways,” said Hochul. “And that’s one small way where I feel it’s a success for the localities to be empowered to do what they think is right for their constituents.”
The bill is named after Sammy Cohen Eckstein, who was just 12 years old when he was killed by a van driver in Park Slope, Brooklyn as he went into the street to fetch a soccer ball. Over 100 more children have been killed in traffic collisions since then.
“I cannot wait to hug Sammy’s family,” said Hochul. “And we’ll do an official signing of that with a lot of tears I’m sure, but knowing that their advocacy resulted in a real win in his name.”
New York City’s speed limit has been 25 mph since 2014, when then-Mayor Bill de Blasio persuaded state lawmakers to lower it from 30 mph where it had stood since 1964. Sammy’s mother, Amy Cohen, had been advocating to get approval for the lower speed limit since then.
“Lower speed limits save lives, and I am overjoyed that Sammy’s Law will finally pass in the state budget,” Cohen said. “This means so much to not only my family, but countless families across New York who’ve been fighting for this for years.”
The measure enjoys wide support among New Yorkers in polling and had the backing of numerous elected officials, including Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams, and scores of state and local lawmakers, but never managed to make it over the hump.
Advocates nearly tasted victory last year when the State Senate included Sammy’s Law in its budget proposal, but it was left out of the Assembly’s proposal. The final budget lacked it even as Cohen and another mother of a crash victim, Fabiola Mendieta-Cuapio, launched a hunger strike at the State Capitol.
The final version is expected to exempt roads with three or more lanes of traffic in each direction, Gothamist reported citing Assembly bill sponsor Linda Rosenthal.
Studies show that the risk of death for pedestrians decreases dramatically when motor vehicles are traveling at lower speeds. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found pedestrians face a 10% risk of death when hit by a car traveling 23 miles per hour; the rate climbs to 25% at 32 mph, 50% at 42 mph, 75% at 50 mph, and a horrific 90% at 58 mph.
