BROOKLYN — The city approved a plan on Friday to lower the speed limit on the border of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Clinton Hill from 30 mph to 20 mph in order to combat speeding in the area, officials said.
The plan, part of the Department of Transportation's Neighborhood Slow Zone initiative, will also add new signs, street markings and speed bumps to help enforce the new rules, according to the agency's website.
The area was one of five new slow zones announced for 2014 by the DOT and Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday, with 10 others coming over the following two years.
“Speeding is the single greatest contributing factor in traffic fatalities in our City,” read a statement from the mayor. “Slow Zones have shown proven results in curbing dangerous driving and we want more neighborhoods to benefit from the program.”
The DOT under Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan has long tried to curb speeding throughout the city, arguing that reducing speeds by 10 mph drastically reduces fatalities. According to DOT estimates, a pedestrian hit at 40 mph has a 70 percent chance of dying, while a pedestrian hit at 30 mph has an 80 percent chance of surviving.
A pedestrian hit in the 20 mph slow zone will have a 95 percent chance of surviving, according to the DOT.
The Clinton Hill-Bed-Stuy slow zone is bordered to the north by Lafayette Avenue, to the east by Bedford Avenue, to the south by Fulton Street and to the west by Washington Avenue.
Officials chose the location in part because of a high concentration of crashes. There are an average of 62.4 injuries per year in the area, and about six injuries or fatalities per road mile, according to the DOT. The 0.2-square-mile area is also home to four schools.
The slow zone program was created in 2011, in Claremont. Since that time, 13 other slow zones have been completed in areas across the city, according to the DOT.
