By Jessica Fargen
The Boston Herald
Cash-strapped communities across Massachusetts are ramping up pressure on Beacon Hill to legalize traffic surveillance cameras so cities and towns can crack down on red-light scofflaws with automatic tickets amid lean times for police.
‘This is just about public safety. It’s a no-brainer. Let’s get it done,’ said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who has pushed for red-light cameras since 1993. ‘Other states have it. Why can’t we do it in Massachusetts? What’s the reluctancy of the Legislature to pass this? This saves lives.’
‘Pass the darn thing,’ said Gerald Lee, a former police chief and president of the Pittsfield City Council, which passed a home-rule petition in January to install red-light cameras. ‘It’s a public-safety issue. If you have those cameras, their violations are reduced.’
Bills to allow cities and towns to install red-light cameras have languished in the Legislature for years amid pressure from police unions and unwillingness to change a state law requiring that motor-vehicle citations be hand-delivered to violators.
There’s also been ‘apprehension’ over the technology, said state Rep. Kevin G. Honan (D-Brighton), who has proposed red-light camera bills for 10 years. The push is gaining steam this year, said Honan, who thinks cameras would slow down traffic at Commonwealth Avenue and Babcock Street in Brighton, which he called a ‘speedway.’
‘There’s more and more support around the commonwealth’ for the cameras, he said. ‘That will put pressure on the Legislature.’
A legislative hearing is planned for June 14. Gov. Deval Patrick supports giving municipalities the option to install the cameras.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) is awaiting testimony on the bills, according to a spokesman. ‘He looks forward to hearing from the public and legislative committees on this issue,’ the spokesman said.
City officials in Springfield, Salem, Somerville and Worcester are among those clamoring for the cameras.
‘This is an example of how cities and towns should just be free to make these decisions and implement them locally, and not have to go and ask for approval from Beacon Hill,’ said Geoffrey Beckwith, director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
‘Micro-management in this way is blocking important and innovative programs such as these,’ he said. ‘There’s real optimism that given the growing interest across the state that the Legislature will pass something this year.’
City and town police departments are struggling to patrol the roads, said Wayne Sampson, director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association.
‘The last three years we’ve had a tremendous reduction in our work force,’ said Sampson, a retired Shrewsbury chief. ‘A lot of our communities are not able to fill positions, and traffic enforcement is one of the areas that has suffered.’
Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll, who is still waiting to enact a red-light camera ordinance the City Council passed in 2007, called it an ‘extra enforcement tool that could alleviate some safety concerns.’
‘You can’t put a police officer on every corner,’ she said.
Some 538 communities in 27 states allow red-light cameras, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Red-light running is the cause of thousands of crashes each year. In 2009, 676 people were killed and 130,000 were injured in crashes that involved red-light running, according to the institute. But Ivan Sever, the Massachusetts coordinator for the National Motorists Association, cites studies that show red-light cameras cause an increase in rear-end collisions.
‘It doesn’t do anything for safety,’ he said. ‘In fact, it makes it worse.’
He believes there are better ways to make intersections safer.
‘If there are too many people running a red light, there’s usually some kind of engineering problem,’ he said. ‘There’s obstruction. The lights aren’t synchronized. There are other solutions.’
Copyright 2011 Boston Herald Inc.