A proposed law allowing New York City to set speed limits on its own streets, named for a child who was tragically killed by a speeding driver, is once again hitting roadblocks in the State Legislature, and advocates plan to go on a hunger strike this week to showcase the bill’s urgency.
Sammy’s Law, which advocates have been trying to pass through Albany for years, would allow the Big Apple to reduce speed limits on its own streets from 25 to 20 miles per hour; the city’s speed limits are presently controlled by the state. The bill is named for Sammy Cohen Eckstein, who was just 12 years old when he was killed by a speeding van driver in Park Slope, Brooklyn in 2013, as he went into the street to fetch a soccer ball.
