Do you feel that drivers drive too fast through your neighborhood, creating hazardous conditions for you and your neighbors? If so, the New York Department of Transportation (NYDOT) has a program that may be able to help. Called "Neighborhood Slow Zones", this program allows neighborhoods to apply for construction of traffic calming devices within a neighborhood that force drivers to slow down.

Neighborhood slow zones are established in small, self contained neighborhoods and they force drivers to slow down through the use of speed bumps, signs and other traffic calming devices. To apply as a Neighborhood Slow Zone, residents must fill out an application available at the NYDOT website. The neighborhood must be small, self contained, (approximately one-quarter square mile in area) and can't contain any major thoroughfares or commercial and industrial zones. The application must be submitted by a neighborhood board, community association, or business coalition. The application must be endorsed by civic or business leaders within the community. If the application is approved, NYDOT will work together with community leaders to design the most effective means of traffic calming for the neighborhood.

There is a deadline for the application so neighborhood organizations that wish to apply must do so by February 3rd, 2012. Once the application is received, NYDOT will conduct a review during the month of February and those neighborhoods which are approved will learn of the approval in March.

For more information, visit the NYDOT website at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/slowzones.shtml

Labels: traffic safety, vehicle safety