After another fatal hit-and-run accident in Queens this week, local lawmakers unveiled legislation that they hope will crack down on speeding drivers.
State Senator Jose Peralta is co-sponsoring the bill, which would extend school zone speed cameras' operating hours to 24 hours a day.
Currently, they run only an hour before school begins to an hour after it ends.
The legislation would also make the camera pilot program permanent and allow cameras to be placed in all school zones. Peralta said this would be a positive step in making the streets safer.
"When people are aware that there are cameras around, people's behavior tends to change and shift. So it shifts because people don't want points on their license, they don't want to pay a fine, or they just don't want to go through the hassle of actually getting something in the mail that says 'You ran a red light,'" Peralta said. "People's behavior changes and they slow down."
If the bill passes, drivers who receive five traffic camera violations in one year would get their vehicle's registration suspended for six months.