Mayor Zohran Mamdani to lower speed limit in NYC school zones to 15 mph, invoking Sammy's Law

Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News on Mar 16, 2026

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NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Monday that the New York City Department of Transportation will be lowering speed limits in 800 school zones to 15 mph under Sammy’s Law, which allows the city to set limits below the statewide minimum.

The move is the first step to lowering speed limits in all school zones citywide, the mayor said in a statement.

“Today’s expansion of slow-zones for schools across all five boroughs is just the beginning,” Mamdani said. “Lower speeds save lives, and we will use every tool at our disposal to protect our neighbors as they move about our city.”

The speed limit for the majority of the city’s roughly 2,300 school zones is 25 mph, while about 700 school zones currently have a 20-mph speed limit.

Under the plan announced Monday, all 20-mph-limit zones will be reduced to 15 mph, and an additional 100 15 mph zones will be selected by the city’s DOT based on Vision Zero data, which tracks recent collisions and other incidents.

The new limit is expected to go into effect following a mandatory 60-day public comment period.

According to the Transportation Department, a person struck by a car moving at 25 mph is three times more likely to die than a person struck by a car traveling 15 mph.

“Speeding is the leading cause of traffic deaths,” Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn said in a statement. “Even a small speed reduction can mean the difference between life and death in a crash.”

The limits will be largely enforced by the city’s school zone speed cameras, roughly 2,400 of which are authorized to issue automated tickets.

The school slowdown is made possible by Sammy’s Law, a 2024 law that enables the city to set speed limits on smaller roads lower than the statewide minimum. The law is named for 12-year-old Sammy Cohen Eckstein, who was killed by a driver near his home in Brooklyn after chasing a soccer ball into the street in 2013.

A spokesman for the Mamdani administration said the city plans to expand the 15 mph limit to all city school zones by the end of 2029.