Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s administration has completed its installation of new red light cameras at 450 of the city’s 13,500 intersections with traffic signals, the maximum currently allowed under state law, it announced on Wednesday.

Mamdani’s Department of Transportation committed at the start of the year to use the city’s authority under a 2024 state law to expand the number of intersections with red light cameras from 150 to 600. Where they are installed, the cameras snap pictures of the license plates of drivers who blow through red signals and automatically issue them a $50 violation, which the offending vehicle operators receive via a mailed notice of liability within 30 days of the infraction.

“We’ve completed this life-saving expansion by installing red light cameras at 600 intersections across the five boroughs, the maximum allowed by state law,” said DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn, during an Oct. 21 Queens news conference.

Flynn said the automatic enforcement cameras have been highly effective at making intersections safer by deterring drivers from running red lights. He said red light cameras have reduced infractions by 80% at the intersections where they are in place, and last year 95% of drivers caught by red light cameras received one to two violations.

Furthermore, intersections with red signal cameras have seen a 60% drop in injuries from rear-end collisions along with a 70% decline in those caused by T-bone crashes, DOT reported.

“So we know that these cameras work,” Flynn said during the event, held at the Astoria intersection of Hoyt Avenue South and 21st Street, where 38-year-old Karina Larino was killed by a driver in 2022.

“The challenge we’ve had is that state law had limited where New York City DOT could operate red light cameras to just 150 of the city’s 13,500 intersections that have traffic signals,” Flynn added. “At the beginning of this year, the Mamdani administration committed to quadrupling the size of the red light program here in New York City after DOT successfully advocated for an expansion of the program in Albany.”

The intersection where Larino was killed, which is adjacent to Astoria Park, was one of the 450 to get a new red light camera under the expansion.

Assembly Member Diana Moreno (D-Queens), who attended the press conference and holds the Assembly seat Mamdani previously occupied, said she would like to see red light cameras added to even more intersections across the city. Authorization for such a change must be approved at the state level.

“This is only the beginning. I look forward to working with Commissioner Flynn…and my colleagues in Albany to secure funding for much-needed street safety measures, including additional red light cameras,” Moreno said.

Area State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez (D-Queens/Brooklyn/Manhattan) was also present at the event.

Albany lawmakers also must vote to reauthorize the existing cameras next year, proceedings Flynn said DOT is preparing for.

“We’re very aware the red light camera program is up for reauthorization next year,” Flynn said. “I think you know we heard from two of our elected leaders here about their vision and their priorities. We’re certainly talking to them about ours as well.”