Brooklyn mom Amy Cohen has been working with city officials to try and get more speed cameras in New York since 2013, when her son Sammy was struck and killed by a speeding car.
On Friday, after six years, Cohen was able to celebrate a city-wide speed camera expansion, announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“The heartache never goes away we just find a way to channel it hopefully into something productive," she said.
Right now there are 140 school zones with cameras. Soon there will be more than 740, under a new state law expanding camera zones.
Avery Dermer, 16, was on West End Avenue Friday as the city installed a new speed camera. Her classmate Cooper Stock was killed by a speeding driver in their Upper West Side neighborhood seven years ago.
“All New York city kids deserve to feel safe going to and from school," she told News 4, holding a photo of Cooper.
De Blasio said they were increasing the number of school cameras in the city by five times. He said, moving forward, there will be at least one speed camera in every school zone, and their hours in use will double.
Local
He said the city installed extra camera several years ago and and saw speeding reduced significantly in those areas. “Wherever we put them they save lives.”
