Current:Home > MarketsEyes on the road: Automated speed cameras get a fresh look as traffic deaths mount-LoTradeCoin
Eyes on the road: Automated speed cameras get a fresh look as traffic deaths mount
View Date:2024-12-23 21:12:12
RICHMOND, Va. — The speed limit in front of Linwood Holton Elementary School is 25 miles per hour at drop-off and dismissal.
But Tara FitzPatrick says it's not unusual to see drivers doing twice that. And she has the receipts to prove it.
"So he officially hit the school zone doing 50 miles an hour through a crosswalk," FitzPatrick says, pointing her radar gun at a gray Chevrolet SUV flying by in the left lane.
This is one of two schools in Richmond where the city has installed new enforcement cameras to catch speeders. FitzPatrick has two children at the school. She's also a traffic safety advocate for the nonprofit Greater Richmond Fit4Kids, which is why she owns a radar gun.
Still, FitzPatrick has mixed feelings about the speed cameras. She'd rather see the whole street redesigned to discourage speeding and protect pedestrians and bicyclists. But she also knows that won't happen anytime soon.
"A lot of us feel desperate" to make streets safer, FitzPatrick said. "If I could make a quick fix tomorrow, it would not be any type of speed enforcement. It would not be school zone speed enforcement cameras. But that's the option that we're left with at this point."
Advocates say speeding tickets change behavior
Richmond joins a growing list of cities turning to speed cameras. New laws in California and Pennsylvania will allow them in major cities where they've long been blocked.
Traffic fatalities have risen sharply over the past decade, and safety advocates around the country are desperately searching for anything that will get drivers to slow down. But critics say speed cameras can be a financial burden on those who are least able to pay.
Still, they've earned the endorsement of prominent safety advocates, including Jonathan Adkins, the CEO of the Governors Highway Safety Association.
"Automated enforcement works," Adkins said. "For lack of a better term, it sucks to get a ticket. It changes your behavior."
Police departments in many places have scaled back their traffic enforcement, Adkins says, and speeding and reckless driving seem to be getting worse. He says automated cameras can help fill that void.
"The question is, how do we deploy them in a fair and equitable way with the public support?" Adkins said. "It can't be a gotcha, it can't be a surprise."
Skeptics say speed cameras are a cash grab
No one likes getting a speeding ticket. But the objections to automated traffic enforcement go deeper than that.
"We are very skeptical that safety is the real goal," says Jay Beeber, with the National Motorists Association, a driver advocacy group.
There are other ways to get drivers to slow down, Beeber argues, including speed feedback signs that show drivers how fast they're going in real time.
"There's many ways to get greater compliance," Beeber says. But many cities are focused on speeding cameras, "because they do not want to lose the money from the tickets they are issuing."
Safety advocates have touted automated enforcement as a neutral alternative to police stops, which can be potentially biased by race, and as a way to reduce unnecessary interactions between police and communities of color.
But in practice, that hasn't always been the case. Studies in Washington, D.C., and Chicago show that tickets from automated enforcement are paid disproportionately by people of color.
"Automated enforcement has become a significant revenue driver for the city," said Olatunji Oboi Reed, who runs a nonprofit in Chicago called Equiticity. "And it's financially harmful to Black and brown people."
For decades, Reed says, Chicago has failed to fix some of the most dangerous intersections, or to redesign roads to discourage speeding and encourage biking or public transportation.
"The only solution we get is automated enforcement," Reed says. "That's not a failure of Black people who speed and run red lights. That's a failure of the transportation sector in Chicago."
New laws expand the reach of cameras
Speed camera advocates insist they've learned from those mistakes.
"We need to make sure that our cities have all the tools that are effective that they need to stop the carnage," said Laura Friedman, a state assemblywoman in California who sponsored the state law authorizing automated cameras as part of a pilot program in six cities across the state.
Friedman, who was formerly the mayor of Glendale, Calif., says local communities will be involved in choosing locations for those cameras.
"We make sure it can't be a money grab, because the money can only be used for physical speed-lowering improvements on the same streets where you're using the cameras," she said. "So it's really about changing the culture and slowing traffic down."
Speed cameras have been in use for over a decade in New York City, and safety advocates there say they've worked.
"This is really a model to other cities about how automated enforcement can roll out equitably," said Danny Harris, the executive director of the nonprofit Transportation Alternatives, "because of the way it's rolled out across the city."
The cameras have succeeded in changing drivers' behavior, Harris argues, noting that drivers who get a first ticket are 60% less likely to get a second one.
"It should be very easy," Harris says. "If you don't want a ticket, don't speed."
veryGood! (8)
Related
- Investigation into Chinese hacking reveals ‘broad and significant’ spying effort, FBI says
- Remember That Coal Surge Last Year? Yeah, It’s Over
- Britney Spears’ Upcoming Memoir Has a Release Date—And Its Sooner Than You Might Think
- Larsa Pippen Traumatized By Michael Jordan's Comment About Her Relationship With His Son Marcus
- Can't afford a home? Why becoming a landlord might be the best way to 'house hack.'
- The rise of American natural gas
- Vibrating haptic suits give deaf people a new way to feel live music
- The secret to Barbie's enduring appeal? She can fend for herself
- Jason Kelce Offers Up NSFW Explanation for Why Men Have Beards
- Scientists say new epoch marked by human impact — the Anthropocene — began in 1950s
Ranking
- Food prices worried most voters, but Trump’s plans likely won’t lower their grocery bills
- Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started
- Environmental Advocates Call on Gov.-Elect Wes Moore to Roll Back State Funding for Fossil Fuel Industry
- Why inflation is losing its punch — and why things could get even better
- Fantasy football waiver wire: 10 players to add for NFL Week 11
- How photographing action figures healed my inner child
- Why inflation is losing its punch — and why things could get even better
- Charli D'Amelio Shares 6 Deals You’ll Find in Her Amazon Cart for Prime Day 2023
Recommendation
-
Bull doge! Dogecoin soars as Trump announces a government efficiency group nicknamed DOGE
-
'Barbie' beats 'Oppenheimer' at the box office with a record $155 million debut
-
They're illegal. So why is it so easy to buy the disposable vapes favored by teens?
-
The Choice for Rural Officials: Oppose Solar Power or Face Revolt
-
Kevin Costner says he hasn't watched John Dutton's fate on 'Yellowstone': 'Swear to God'
-
Amazon Prime Day 2023: Fashion Deals Under $50 From Levi's, New Balance, The Drop & More
-
Britney Spears’ Upcoming Memoir Has a Release Date—And Its Sooner Than You Might Think
-
How Shein became a fast-fashion behemoth