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Push it to the limit – but not too fast!
New York City is testing speed limit technology on a few dozen of its municipal vehicles, Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday.
The Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), which oversees the Big Apple’s roughly 24,500 road vehicles, has installed intelligent speed assist on 50 of its cars and trucks, or 0.2 percent, but Mayor Adams said it could come to the entire fleet if the pilot program is successful.
“We’re asking New Yorkers to cut back, so we have to start with our ships first,” Adams said at a press conference at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on August 11.
The technology tracks the cars’ location and local speed limits and automatically slows down if drivers exceed posted speeds.
“When you drive the car — and you know we set this up for a 15 mph zone — the vehicle doesn’t allow you to accelerate above 15,” DCAS Chief Fleet Officer Keith Kerman said. “If you try too hard, you’ll get to 16 or 17 and the wheel will pull you back.”
Mayor Adams called the project a way to make Gotham’s streets safer and set an example.
“It’s about to kick into gear. [we] “We will continue to be safe using technology to ensure that we can lead from the front,” said the mayor.
The technology seems to require some lead-footed bureaucrats.
The city car Mayor Adams used to demonstrate his plan at the Brooklyn Tech campus was cited for speeding in a school zone in Queens on June 3.
The six-month initiative will cost $80,000 to renew and install the technology.
The city will test anti-speeding technology on vehicles used by seven agencies, including the Parks Department, Department of Transportation, Department of Environmental Protection, Taxi and Limousine Commission, Housing and Development and Business Integrity Commission.
Adams’ NYPD security detail at Thursday’s press conference will continue to drive without speed limits around the five boroughs because they are classified as emergency vehicles and thus exempt, the mayor said.
“Currently, emergency vehicles are exempt from this technology, and my vehicle will be exempted from the use of emergency vehicles at this time,” he said. “How my vehicles are used will be determined by the police department, in contact with the security structure, they will make that decision.”
He confirmed the work he had done, saying that he had to quickly circle the city to get to the emergency.
“Anything can happen at any time of night in this city that can cause us to move at an unusually fast pace,” Adams added. “If there’s an explosion, if there’s a plane landing in the river, if there’s any kind of emergency – this is a real city with real problems, and I don’t need you to be there, how long did it take the mayor to get there?”
One of the Chevy Suburbans in Adams’ convoy Thursday was caught speeding twice this year, in Queens on April 22 and in Brooklyn on July 6.
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