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Anti-speeding New York mayor caught speeding after announcing big traffic initiative

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Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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After unveiling a plan to curtail the number of traffic deaths in New York City, an SUV-hauling Mayor Bill de Blasio was videotaped speeding through the streets of Gotham and running stop signs.

After departing a photo-op on Thursday, de Blasio was riding in the front seat of the vehicle which was traveling at speeds of up to 45 miles per hour in a 30 mph speed zone, and up to 60 mph in a 45 mph zone, CBS-2 New York reported.

The SUV also cut through a stop sign at a Queens intersection, according to the TV station.

Those infractions would seem minor if they hadn’t come just two days after a big traffic safety initiative announced by de Blasio. “We want the public to know that we are holding ourselves to this standard,” he said on Tuesday while announcing “Vision Zero,” which is based on a plan first developed in Sweden in the 1990s.

The plan would implement a number of changes with the goal of eliminating all traffic-related deaths. Those changes would include lowering the speed limit to 30 mph to 25, widening traffic lanes and installing cameras that track speeding and issue tickets. The size of the Highway Patrol department will also be increased.

One controversial part of the “Vision Zero” plan would target speeding cab drivers by pausing their meters if they were driving too fast.

“Our lives are literally in each others’ hands,” said de Blasio at Tuesday’s announcement.

De Blasio has attracted a great deal of attention just fifty days into his term. Last week, he came under fire after he placed a phone call to the New York Police Department after one of his political supporters was arrested.

The Democratic mayor also ruffled feathers by opting to not close down public schools despite a large snowstorm.

According to CBS-2, the mayor’s office referred their media inquiry to the New York Police Department.

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