'Slow zones' aim to keep pedestrians safe

Mayor Michael Bloomberg Tuesday unveiled a proposal to fight for pedestrian safety, announcing that "slow zones" would be created in more than a dozen neighborhoods in all five boroughs.

Bright blue signs and speed bumps will accompany traditional speed limit postings throughout each of the 13 areas, which are expected to be in place by the end of 2013. Speed limits will drop from 30 mph to 20 mph.

Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said the city was targeting speeding drivers because they cause about a quarter of all traffic deaths. She said the likelihood of dying after being hit drops from 70 percent to 5 percent if drivers slow down from 40 mph to 20 mph.

"Speeding on our streets is really a matter of life or death," she said Tuesday at a news conference in Corona, Queens, one of the neighborhoods getting the traffic changes.

The program was first tested in the Claremont section of the Bronx last year; the transportation department said it resulted in a 10 percent reduction of top speeds.

The mayor has ruffled some feathers for shutting down swaths of roadways to drivers for pedestrian plazas, constructing bicycle lanes throughout the city and a plan to bring a bike-sharing program to midtown by the end of the summer.