New Haven’s pushing again for the state’s OK to mount “red-light cameras.” The idea faces renewed opposition again from civil libertarians and perhaps a Westville state representative.
A Board of Aldermen committee last week unanimously backed a nonbinding resolution calling on the state to pass enabling legislation so New Haven can use the cameras to catch drivers who run red lights. After the cameras snap pictures of cars running a red light, the city would send the cars’ owners $100 tickets.
The city pushed a similar bill at Hartford several times in recent years, only to see the proposal fail. It’s considered a cornerstone of New Haven’s “safe streets” efforts.
Click here to read about New Haveners’ role in killing the bill in 2006. Opponents’ concerns included forcing people to account for their whereabouts when a camera records their car racing through a light, but not necessarily them inside it. They questioned whether the system has produced results elsewhere, and whether it automates police work while taking away the important human-judgment aspect of policing.
New Haven State Rep. Pat Dillon, who has voted against the bill in the past, said following last Thursday night’s vote that she hasn’t decided yet where she’ll stand this session. Unlike in previous years, this year’s version doesn’t include using the cameras to catch speeders.
Dillon said Friday that she hadn’t seen this year’s measure. She said she voted against the bill three years ago in part because it gave too large a share of ticket revenue to the camera supplier. She said she heard no testimony last year on the measure and did not take a position. She said she would not make up her mind this year until she hears testimony about the bill itself.
She said she also is concerned whether the cameras can tell the difference between drivers running a red light and those making a legal right turn on red.
The ACLU said it has not changed its position on the cameras, spokesman Patrick Doyle said. It still violates people’s privacy and due process rights, Doyle argued.
He criticized the impersonal nature of the camera-ticket strategy.
“When you get pulled over [by a police officer], there is interaction with a person,” he said. “The policeman will ask you what’s going on. That’s part of due process.”
The current resolution differs from the 2006 version in that it targets only red-light runners, not speeders.
The camera idea elicited sympathy from people interviewed at various spots around town. (Click on the play arrow at the top of the story to watch.)
Anthony Gamberdella, who has owned Anthony’s Men’s Hair Styling for 36 years, was interviewed in his Fountain Street shop. It’s a couple of doors down from where a cab driver allegedly running a light struck a pedestrian last week.
Gamberdella is all for the cameras. “If somebody goes through a light they could be found out or in an accident, you could find out who caused the accident,” he said.
Miguel, a cabbie for Easy One Taxi, who would only give his first name, said the red light cameras would “not only prevent accidents but help drivers be more cautious.” Speaking while waiting for a fare at Union Station, Miguel said he also drives trailer-trucks. He said he considers red-light runners one of the more dangerous hazards to big-rig drivers.
Those sentiments were echoed at City Hall when the Board of Aldermen’s City Services and Environmental Policy Committee voted to pass the pro-cameras resolution last Thursday. The resolution now goes to the full board, which is expected to pass it.
After the unanimous vote, Doug Hausladen of the CT Livable Streets Campaign said the city had “taken a step.”
Hausladen said passage by the full board, which aldermanic President Carl Goldfield termed all but assured, would send “a really strong message from the City of New Haven that we want … the ability to put up safety measures that can actually save lives for our citizens.”
Nobody among the dozen or so supporters who attended the meeting spoke against the red-light cameras. One of the supporters, outgoing Police Chief James Lewis, called the cameras “a cost-effective way of changing behavior.” He cautioned the aldermen not to consider them as a revenue-producing scheme because it hasn’t turned out that way in the 400 or so communities that use the system.
“This should have a huge impact,” Lewis said. Police patrols in the crowded streets often are hard-put to enforce the law against running red lights. Even when they are in a position to spot the offense, they have trouble reaching the offenders safely.
Outgoing Fair Haven Alderwoman Erin Sturgis-Pascale, who chairs the committee, said the cameras would not photograph people who are forced to be in the intersection by slow traffic but only those who actually run a red light. She said the cameras would not photograph the occupants of a car.
She said the ticket would be mailed to the car’s owner, but a driver who could prove someone else was driving the car when it was photographed would not be held responsible for the ticket.
Rob Rocke (pictured) said he is tired of seeing “one, two, three cars” blow through an intersection “as if they don’t need to obey the law.” Calling himself “a card-carrying member” of the ACLU, he said he finds “nothing private in choosing to be a motor vehicle owner” or driver.