NYPD cracks down on speeding, releases results of texting sting

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The NYPD is on a two-day ticketing blitz, trying to get drivers to slow down.

The speed limit in the city almost without exception, is 30 miles an hour.

The crackdown comes the day after a deadly high speed crash in Brooklyn that killed two people.

Investigators say one of the cars may have been going 100 miles an hour.

"It's terrible. People are dying here all the time, they get hit by cars constantly," said Forest Hills resident Joyce Schubert.

She lives near Queens Boulevard. Bill Nelly owns the local dance studio.

"In the time that I've been here, there have been five or six deadly car accidents right here," said Nelly.

Whether you live in New York or just work here, chances are you've had your own close call with speeders.

Just Monday, a car barreling down Flatbush Avenue slammed into another car, struck a utility pole and broke apart. Both the driver and his passenger were killed.

It happened at 6:30 p.m., and amazingly, no one on the sidewalk was injured.

It's the kind of accident the NYPD Commissioner is determined to prevent, and for 48 hours, officers are fanning out across every borough, in a citywide crackdown on speeding.

"I'm very pleased to report that the increased attention and citations we're issuing those numbers have dropped dramatically, and are beginning to have an impact on collisions and fatalities, both of which are down this year," said Commissioner William Bratton.

Over the course of four hours, one officer wrote more than half a dozen tickets. Some of them, for drivers doing double the speed limit.

Bill Nelly says the police presence on Queens Boulevard Tuesday was unmistakable.

"They just came in swarms, and it looked like they were stopping five and six cars at a time," he said.

A number of New Yorkers were issued summonses by NYPD officers during a two-day crackdown on distracted driving last week.

Officers issued a total of 5,258 summonses during the initiative.

Nearly 3,000 of tickets were for using a cell phone while driving, while another 1,000 were given for text messaging behind the wheel.

An additional 1,200 were issued for failing to yield to pedestrians.

The crackdown is part of an ongoing effort to reduce traffic deaths through Mayor Bill de Blasio's Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic fatalities.

The initiative was conducted on Tuesday and Friday of last week, for the entire 24-hour period each day.

Police say year-to-date pedestrian deaths have decreased by 30.16 percent.

Pedestrians and drivers are reminded to avoid distraction while operating motor vehicles and walking city streets.

The NYPD is beginning a similar crackdown on speeding across all five boroughs on Tuesday and Wednesday.