The speed limit in Co-op City and most city streets is 20 or 30 mph. I think its fair to say that there are plenty of drivers that drive through our community at much higher speeds. One reason for this is ENGINEERING. The design of our streets are condusive to speeding. When streets are built to be very long, extra wide, buildings set away from the curb, and tree cover is scant, drivers feel like they have plenty of open space so they speed. Another factor that contributes to higher speeds is EDUCATION, or the lack of it. There's virtually no driver education once the diver's license is obtained so the laws that were memorized for the test are many times forgotten. Signage is the only thing that can help warn or remind drivers of the rules, and many times they're non-existant or poorly placed. Finally, ENFORCEMENT can play a big role in taming speeds and other traffic infractions. Having random check points and speed traps can help influence the psyche of the driver. The risk of getting fined could serve as a preventative measure. Please tell me your ideas on how to fix the problem of speeding.

Hello Safe Streetsers,
Glad to see you're taking on the speeding problem. The Park Slope Civic
Council is tackling speeding these days as well, and recently started a
productive conversation with their local police precinct to work together on
the issue of ENFORCEMENT. You can read more about it in this Streetsblog
article
(http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/03/20/livable-streets-community-news-mapping-hotspots-getting-results/).
PSCC member Lauri Schindler
http://www.livablestreets.com/people/lauri_schindler) is working on this issue
and wants to connect with other New York neighborhoods who are as well.

Best,

Lily Bernheimer

http://www.livablestreets.com/people/Lily/profile

On 2009-03-17 15:56, Safe Streets Cycling wrote:

> The speed limit in Co-op City and most city streets is 20 or 30 mph. I think
> its fair to say that there are plenty of drivers that drive through our
> community at much higher speeds. One reason for this is ENGINEERING. The
> design of our streets are condusive to speeding. When streets are built to
> be very long, extra wide, buildings set away from the curb, and tree cover
> is scant, drivers feel like they have plenty of open space so they speed.
> Another factor that contributes to higher speeds is EDUCATION, or the lack
> of it. There's virtually no driver education once the diver's license is
> obtained so the laws that were memorized for the test are many times
> forgotten. Signage is the only thing that can help warn or remind drivers of
> the rules, and many times they're non-existant or poorly placed. Finally,
> ENFORCEMENT can play a big role in taming speeds and other traffic
> infractions. Having random check points and speed traps can help influence
> the psyche of the driver. The risk of getting fined could serve as a
> preventative measure. Please tell me your ideas on how to fix the problem of
> speeding.