It’s the end of the road for drivers who like to speed during overnight hours. Starting Monday at 10 p.m., speed cameras across the city will stay on 24 hours, seven days a week.

Previously, speed cameras were only on during weekdays between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. because of state laws.

What You Need To Know

  • Drivers caught traveling at 10-miles-per-hour or more above the speed limit will face a $50 fine

  • Unlike other traffic changes in the past, there will be no grace period for drivers

  • The Department of Transportation says 59% of traffic fatalities occur when those cameras are shut off overnight and on weekends
  • According to the city, speed cameras have shown to reduce speeding by 72% in areas where they are placed

"This is a great day for Families for Safe Streets, Transportation Alternatives and the whole city of New York to finally be able to see speed cameras working 24 hours a day the whole year," Ydanis Rodriguez, the city's Department of Transportation Commissioner, said Sunday morning on NY1.

The change comes after state lawmakers and city leaders reached an agreement in the spring to change the hours of the city's approximately 2,000 automated speed cameras.

According to the DOT, speed camera tickets cost $50 and are given to those who drive more than 10 mph above the speed limit. Tickets given by police officers can cost between $90 and $600, the DOT said.

"Speed cameras are changing the culture in New York City," Rodriguez said. "Most drivers, when they get a ticket for the first time, they don't get a second one. And when they get a second ticket, more than 75% reduce their speed [in the future]."

The DOT originally launched the speed camera program in 2013 and expanded the pilot program in June 2014 with 140 school speed zones to support the city’s Vision Zero goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries. 

According to DOT’s Speed Camera Program report, throughout December 2020, speeding at camera locations dropped by an average of 72%, including the total injuries decreasing 14%.

Local drivers NY1 spoke with Sunday near one speed camera on Queens Boulevard in Woodside spoke out against the change.

“We’re experiencing a lot during the post-pandemic,” said John Dorado who often drives to get around the city. “We have inflation, we have prices going up all over the place and having another fee that the city is imposing on you could be detrimental to anyone who’s suffering right now.”

It's suffering, though, that lawmakers and the Department of Transportation say they are trying to avoid. Nearly, 60% of traffic fatalities occur when those cameras have been shut off overnight and on weekends.

“People know when we install those cameras, there’s a big reduction of crashes in those locations,” said Rodriguez, a major supporter of the law.

Still, Queens residents we spoke with say they’re skeptical about whether this change will have any effect on drivers.

“I understand the safety aspect but I don’t know how practical it’s going to be,” said David Jackson who solely relies on subways and buses to get around. “We’re New Yorkers at the end of the day. We got places to be.”

In a statement released after the agreement was reached earlier this year, Mayor Eric Adams said the change would allow speed cameras to monitor "dangerous reckless driving" in the five boroughs 24 hours a day. Approximately 59% of traffic fatalities occurred when the cameras were previously required to be turned off, Adams said.

"Make no mistake about it, this is a major victory for New Yorkers that will save lives and help stem the tide of traffic violence that has taken too many," Adams said in the statement.