Speeding persists when cameras aren't aimed at Island drivers

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Staten Island has long been synonymous with driving mayhem -- and speeding is often at the top of that list.

So much so that, as the city installed new speed limit signs along Bay Street earlier this month, when a Tompkinsville resident was asked if speeding was an issue in her neighborhood she explained matter-of-factly, "I mean, it's Staten Island."

Speeding was logged as the top concern at the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Vision Zero public forums on the Island. It was also the most common complaint on the city's Vision Zero input map for Richmond County.

And just days ago, a 32-year-old man died after crashing his SUV into a city bus in Bulls Head early Tuesday morning and was likely speeding in the moments before the crash, police sources tell the Advance.

Samuel Cruz, of Saturn Lane in New Springville, was driving a Lexus SUV, going north on Victory Boulevard at about 4:05 a.m., when police said he veered into the path of an S62 bus going south near Signs Road. He was ejected from the vehicle.

"Everybody is in a rush," said a resident who lives near the scene of the accident, adding that while te speed limit is 25, most drive much faster.

CAMERAS CUT TICKETS

Despite the variety of Vision Zero initiatives rolled out over the past year, Staten Islanders apparently can't get the message to just slow down.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and the DOT have launched a variety of Vision Zero programs, including the drop of New York City's speed limit from 30 MPH to 25 MPH, anti-speeding advertising campaigns and traffic calming measures.

One of the biggest Vision Zero efforts came in January 2014 when the city introduced school zone speed cameras, which have been credited with a significant drop in speeding at Staten Island school zone locations.

This, the city says, has played a role in dramatically cutting the number of pedestrian fatalities last year.

"Our toolbox to reduce speeding includes lowering speed limits, speed bumps, educational campaigns and, in conjunction with NYPD, consistent enforcement through our speed camera program," said DOT Comissioner Polly Trottenberg in a statement, "which has had a very positive impact enforcing the speed limit in school zones citywide."

But when cameras aren't watching, drivers don't hesitate to accelerate.

Even after the DOT deployed a mobile, electronic sign on Crystal Avenue, urging drivers to slow down, motorists were spotted driving upwards of 40 MPH past the signage in an unposted, 25 MPH zone.

On a recent weekday morning, the Advance -- armed with a speed gun -- caught  drivers repeatedly traveling nearly double the speed limits on local roads across the borough.

'THE FASTEST' ROUTE

Residents and traffic safety advocates suspect that more drivers could be taking to secondary and tertiary arteries, looking for shortcuts as congestion mounts on the  the Staten Island Expressway as well as the borough's main roads.

"I think, historically, the mindset of Staten Islanders is to take the fastest way to get somewhere," said transportation advocate Greg Mihailovich, the Staten Island organizer of Transportation Alternatives. "I remember growing up in New Dorp and watching drivers go so fast down Clawson Street that when their cars hit a dip and bottomed out sparks flew out from underneath."

That mindset was on display recently at local roads like Clawson. Along a rural stretch of Amboy Road in Pleasant Plains, a dozen drivers were clocked with a speed gun traveling above 40 and faster in a 25 MPH zone during a 20-minute period.

"That's nothing," said Steve Graziano, of the automobile repair shop Hollywood Garage, which is located along the Amboy strip. "You should see what it's like after the schools get out. Cars are flying down the road above 50 miles per hour."

He and his father, Jack "Jackie Hollywood" Graziano, say that speeding has picked up along Amboy ever since the Bricktown Center shopping plaza opened in 2007.

"Cars get off the Korean War Veterans Parkway early to take Amboy to the plaza," said Steve Graziano.

Exacerbating the situation, the straight, two-lane block of Amboy Road outside their shop quickly winds right as drivers head south past their shop. The speed limit drops to 20 around the turn, but drivers often ignore the reduced limit.

"They end up driving right into the woods," said Steve Graziano, who pointed to the crooked telephone poles and hunks of shattered car parts peppering Amboy's shoulder as evidence.

POTHOLES: 'NATURES SPEED BUMPS'

Jack Graziano was more upset that the city recently repainted Amboy's double yellow lines over the existing potholes on the road. But even the potholes -- nature's speed bumps -- haven't stopped motorists.

"Now the cars just cross over the lines and into the other lane to avoid the potholes and continue flying," said Jack Graziano.

Islanders have reported similar practices on tertiary roads like Crystal and College  avenues in Westerleigh and Oakdale Street, a very wide road that runs straight through Eltingville and Great Kills, parallel to Amboy Road.

"People on Staten Island are always in a rush to nowhere," said resident Anthony Magnavito, of Eltingville, who lives on a corner along Oakdale Street. He says that more cars have been using Oakdale Street in order to avoid lights on Amboy Road for the past five years or so.

Magnavito welcomes stops signs and more police enforcement to curb speeders. He's been voicing his concerns to the city since a pick up truck crashed into a school bus, overturning the bus carrying students en route to PS 23, Richmond, and PS 53, Bay Terrace.

"I haven't seen a police car enforcing the speed limit on Oakdale since," said Magnavito. The city also has yet to swap Oakdale's 30 MPH sign for new 25 MPH signage.

'DRIVERS GET IMPATIENT'

Unlike the other boroughs' grid system, the Island's older roads are winding and circuitous.  This could have a negative impact on motorist behavior, says Mihailovich, who advocates for smarter street design.

"It's the idea that Staten Island's road grid was not planned all that well," Mihailovich said. "Drivers get impatient and when they have open road they might overcompensate. I think that's part of it. But it's obviously not an excuse for speeding. These side streets are residential roads and people forget they're a second away from tragedy -- the kid chasing a ball into the street."

Mihailovich says that the city should get creative to stop speeding, but added that speed bumps could be a quick and easy solution for secondary and tertiary roads.

"Speed bumps are relatively affordable and can be installed with no real infrastructure change," he said. "But we're always encouraging DOT to think outside the box and look at other municipalities. Another city might be onto something that could combat these issues."

DOT PLANS ACTION

DOT said that it is currently reviewing speed levels on non-priority corridors (like Oakdale Avenue) to see if lower speeds would be more appropriate. The department said it's also working with Community Board 1 on a traffic calming project for Clove Road.

The Department of Transportation has identified 16 "Priority Corridors," or historically unsafe roads, on Staten Island that total 53 miles. There are also 17 Priority Intersections, and 7.5 square miles of Priority Areas where the DOT is planning to implement a "comprehensive set of safety actions," including engineering and educational efforts, and enforcement actions in conjunction with NYPD.

"As part of our Borough Safety Action Plan for Staten Island, we will install expanded speed limit signage on all Staten Island Priority Corridors by the end of this year, and will modify signal timing to reduce off-peak speeding on all feasible Staten Island Priority Corridors by the end of 2017," said a DOT spokesman. "We review requests for speed bumps and evaluate for feasibility in the borough, and we are always open to consider newly requested locations."