Slow down! That’s the message from the city, because it’s the law. Some streets in the city now have a speed limit of 20 mph. 

Sammy’s Law allows the city to reduce speed limits to 20 mph on individual streets. It’s now in place on 19 blocks from Grand Army Plaza to Bartel-Pritchard Square in Brooklyn. 

What You Need To Know

  • Sammy’s Law allows the city's Department of Transportation to make the speed limit on some streets 20 mph

  • The law was put in place in honor of Sammy Cohen Eckstein, who was killed by a driver on Prospect Park West in 2013

  • DOT officials say by the end of 2025, 250 locations will have reduced speed limits

Drivers and pedestrians along Prospect Park West reacted to the implementation of the slower speed limits on Wednesday. 

“I don’t think 20 is going to be a problem. We need to slow down in the area. The area is a lot of kids,” Manuel Hernandez said as he drove down Prospect Park West.

“I think it’s fair, but as a driver too in the city, it’s kinda slow,” East Flatbush resident Jeffrey Vernon added.

Gary Eckstein’s son Sammy Cohen Eckstein was hit and killed by a vehicle on Prospect Park West. The law is named for Sammy.

“At 20 miles per hour, a driver’s field of vision widens. There is far more time to react to the unexpected,” Eckstein said. “If traffic would have been moving more slowly that afternoon, Sammy and the driver of the van would have had more time to see each other to take evasive action to avoid a collision."

Sammy was killed in 2013. The year after that, efforts to slow traffic gained serious traction when the city lowered the default speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph.

“Slower speeds save lives when crashes occur. A driver’s speed is often the difference between life and death,” city Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodríguez said Wednesday.

Some streets being redesigned for safety may have limits reduced even further, to 10 mph.

“Speed kills. It is as simple as that. Our data shows 25% of NYC’s fatalities are caused by excessive speed,” NYPD Chief of Transportation Philip Rivera said.

The DOT says it’s also creating Regional Slow Zones of 20 mph in each borough.

A stretch of lower Manhattan will have one of those. Nearly one and a half miles of Audubon Avenue in Northern Manhattan will also slow to 20 mph max.

The NYPD says 77% of speed-related fatalities are occurring on city streets, as opposed to on the highways.

The DOT says by the end of 2025, there will be 250 locations with reduced speed limits. Areas near schools, shared streets and open streets will be prioritized.