Village Mayor Requests Designation of School Zone From DOT

In the wake of multiple hit-and-run incidents, Village of New Paltz Mayor Tim Rogers asked why New Paltz lacks the school zones present in other municipalities.  

“We’ve had this conversation before, and plenty of other safety pedestrian activists have as well. Why don’t we have a school zone in front of the middle school on South Manheim and also Main Street?” Rogers asked.

 The answer is local politics. Main Street is a state highway, and so, according to the mayor, the village has neither “the flexibility nor the autonomy” to declare a school zone in front of the school. That power lies with the Department of Transportation (DOT).

Rogers relayed that he sent a note to the director of the Region 8 office of the DOT at the village board meeting on Oct. 23. In this note, he asked the office if he could formally request that those roads be designated a school zone. As of Nov. 6, the mayor stated that the DOT had “sent back a note that said that they were working on it,” but no further information was provided by Rogers. 

The mayor expressed renewed interest in school zones following the passage of a law (S.8607/A.9359A), which authorizes “the City of Kingston to launch a speed camera pilot program for up to three local school zones,” according to a press release about the legislation from State Senator Michelle Hinchey. The program would place cameras in the selected school zones that ticket drivers who speed through the zone “on school days during school hours, including one hour before and after the school day.” The cameras will also operate during student activities. The press release following the passing of this law renewed Rogers’ interest in pursuing school zones in New Paltz.  

South Manheim Boulevard and Main Street are some of the most populated roads in New Paltz, and both college and middle school students use them to walk to and from the village.  

“People zoom through there and they’re not paying attention,” Michelle Drewnowski, a New Paltz resident and guidance counselor for the City of Kingston School District said. “We’ve had some kids get hit in the past.”  

In 2019, a moving vehicle struck a middle school student one morning as they crossed Main Street. More recently, SUNY New Paltz student Ray Rattray was killed in a hit-and-run on Route 208 in January.

While this did not happen in any of the proposed school zone areas, it did cause outrage over the safety of pedestrians in New Paltz, causing New Paltz officials and County Executive Jen Metzger to call for a traffic safety study to be done.  

Since the start of 2024,  there have been four hit-and-run deaths in Ulster County. On Oct. 30, a newborn sustained serious injuries in a car crash on Libertyville Road.  

“Driving above the posted speed limit is a factor in 29% of traffic related fatalities nationwide,” said Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha in a New York State Senate press release. “The danger is magnified in school zones where large numbers of students are arriving by bus or on foot and are often outside during the school day.” Shrestha, along with Hinchey, were behind this bill.

“People just don’t care” Drewnowski said in response to the reckless driving in New Paltz. “They’re just always in a hurry.” 

None of the four schools in the New Paltz Central School District have school zones on the adjacent roads. The closest pedestrian safety measure to a school zone that exists is the flashing signs on South Putt Corners Road in front of the high school. But according to Rogers, these are just for show. “That’s actually not legally considered a school zone. It’s basically just signs that encourage people to slow down,” he said. The signs are not legally enforced. 

Drewnowski stated that anything would be better than what exists around the middle school now. “Any kind of caution lights or flashing lights wake you up a bit. I think they bring you back if you’re dazing out while you’re driving,” she said. “If you do end up having cameras, at least there will be consequences for people who are not following the rules.” 

According to Criminal Justice Attorney Martin A. Kron, who published a breakdown of traffic zone law on his website, a “school zone typically extends 1,320 feet along a highway from the entrance or exit of a school building” and can set speed limits “as low as 15 miles per hour but typically range between 15 and 25 miles per hour.” 

The current punishment for not abiding by the limits set in a school zone can be a ticket that costs “between $45 and $1,200, depending on the speed, day of the week and time of day,” wrote Adam H. Rosenblum on his website, TrafficTickets.com. 

Safe Kids Worldwide, a non-profit organization that works to reduce the number of unintentional injuries sustained by children, published an observational study in October 2016 titled “Alarming Dangers in School Zones,” detailing the threats students face when walking to school. According to this study, each week there are five teen pedestrian deaths in the U.S., and the pedestrian death rate for 12 to 19-year-olds had gone up 13% in the three years prior to the publishing of the study. Safe Kids Worldwide recommends that school districts “aggressively pursue proven interventions like crosswalks, appropriate speed limits, visible signs, crossing guards and traffic lights.”  

In the press release for the program, Shrestha stated that this bill is a “critical step” towards pedestrian safety, but there is still a lot of work to do. She ended her statement by paying tribute to the victims of traffic-related deaths in her district.  

“We can’t continue failing New Yorkers on street safety the way we failed Starllie Swonyoung, Raymond E. Rattray, Linh Hong Nguyen, Jack Noble and Dillon Gokey,” she said.