The city Department of Transportation plans to use its authority to lower speed limits on certain roadways.

"Sammy's Law," passed in 2024, gives the DOT the authority to reduce speed limits down to 20 to 10 mph in certain areas to improve road safety.

The law is named after a 12-year-old Brooklyn boy, Sammy Cohen Eckstein, who was hit and killed by a van in 2013.

Three streets in the Bronx have already been reduced, including East 139th Street between Willis Avenue and Alexander Avenue, Courtlandt Avenue between East 156th Street and 157th Street and Jennings Street from Prospect Avenue to Bristow Street.

“A driver's speed can mean the difference between life and death in a traffic crash, so the speed limit reductions we are making will help protect everyone who shares our busy streets. Through Sammy’s Law, the city now has greater flexibility to set speed limits in targeted ways to keep New Yorkers safe on our streets," the city Department of Transportation wrote in a statement.

Roadways being targeted include those in Priority Investment Areas. It includes areas with higher proportions of non-white and low-income residents, greater population and job density and roads that have lacked DOT investments. East 139th Street and Willis Avenue is a neighborhood throughfare that connects the South Bronx to Manhattan. It's also home to the Willis Avenue School, multiple businesses and residences.

"Horrible, you can't get across the street," said Monique Bowman, who lives in Mott Haven.

Speed limit signs were reduced to 15 mph on 139th Street between Willis Avenue and Alexander Avenue.

"When they brought it down to 25 and they we're still speeding, I guess it because it's not monitored even though the police precinct was right down the street they were not obeying it, but 15 is good," said Wanda Ivette Balines, the District 75 representative for School District 8.

The NYPD is in charge of enforcement. Speed cameras are not placed on every road, but they are in school zones.

"People are going to break the speed limit regardless especially at times when no one is really out patrolling the roads, I mean its a good thing but at times people are going to break it regardless," said Elliott Lopes, who works in the area.

The DOT plans to complete 250 locations by the end of 2025.