Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation to lower the speed limit Monday, a critical component to his nearly yearlong Vision Zero agenda to reduce traffic related-deaths in the city.
The default speed limit will be reduced from 35 mph to 25 mph starting next Friday.
“Families and children will be safer because of what we’re doing here today,” de Blasio said in a statement. “Lowering the speed limit will save lives.”
Vision Zero comprises more than 60 initiatives designed to minimize deaths on the road. Beginning Nov. 7, 90% of streets will post a speed limit of 25 mph or lower. As many as 3,000 new speed limit signs will be installed over the next year across the city to inform drivers of the change.
The NYPD and the Department of Transportation have created the 25 Days to 25 MPH campaign to increase public awareness about the new law. Those education efforts will peak on Thursday, when officials will hand out hundreds of thousands of fliers to drivers and pedestrians.
