Under a bill scheduled for a vote Thursday, cities and towns across Massachusetts could decide to install automated road safety camera systems to identify and then photograph vehicles that commit any number of traffic law violations at intersections. The camera systems could look for vehicles that fail to stop at a red light; cars traveling at least 5 miles per hour above the posted speed limit; vehicles making a right turn at a red light where prohibited; and cars blocking an intersection or bus lane.
If caught by a camera, the vehicle owner could be hit with a fine of up to $25 under the bill.
South Shore senators are split on their support of the idea, and most say the law would have to have very specific protections for drivers if they were to vote "yes."
State Sen. Patrick O'Connor, a Weymouth Republican, said that he's undecided on the bill and interested in hearing the debate Thursday.
"It looks like a bit of a cash grab to me ... I don't know what the real value is," O'Connor, whose district includes Scituate, Hingham, Hull and Marshfield, said. "My honest opinion is that mailing a person a $25 ticket from a community that they might not even be part of is not much of a deterrent."
State Sen. John Keenan, a Quincy Democrat, said his support was dependent on several amendments he's filed to the bill. His changes are aimed at securing privacy and having consistent signs warning drivers about the cameras throughout the state.
"My principal concerns are privacy, reliability and accuracy of the cameras," Keenan said. "I want to make sure that there's a real effort made so that the cameras are solely focused on the rear license plates."
Keenan said it was important to him that the cameras wouldn't capture the occupants of cars.
Under the bill, the person to whom the offending vehicle is registered would be liable for the violation, regardless of whether that person was driving the vehicle at the time. But camera-enforced violations would not be made part of the owner's driving record and would not count toward determining car insurance surcharges.
Exemptions would be made for cases in which the violation was necessary to get out of the way for an emergency vehicle, cars that are part of funeral processions or if the car is reported as stolen.
Drivers who put the gas pedal down when they see a yellow light would also be safe — the bill says it would not be a violation "if any part of the vehicle was over the stop line when the light was yellow."
The bill was originally filed by state Sen. William Brownsberger, a Belmont Democrat, and redrafted by the Ways and Means Committee.
State Sen. Michael Brady, a Brockton Democrat, said he supported the measure.
"We currently do have some (security) cameras in cities and towns and I know it helps police departments," said Brady, whose district includes Whitman, Halifax, Hanover and Hanson. "This will help because we don't have money to hire a million police officers."
Brady said Wednesday that he still needed to take a closer look at some of the amendments.
The bill would limit cities and towns to no more than one traffic camera for every 2,500 residents and would require that the locations of the cameras be approved by the city manager, mayor or board of selectmen after a public hearing on the proposal. The municipality would also have to post an unobstructed sign notifying drivers at each intersection that a camera is in use.
The cameras would be prohibited from taking "a frontal view photograph of a motor vehicle committing a camera enforceable violation" and the bill directs municipalities to make additional efforts "to ensure that photographs produced by an automated road safety camera system do not identify the vehicle operator, the passengers or the contents of the vehicle."
Photographs would be destroyed within 48 hours of the final disposition of the violation. The bill also spells out an appeals process for those who are ticketed.
The maximum fine that could be imposed for a camera-captured violation would be $25 and each municipality would only be allowed to collect as much money as is necessary to recover the costs of installing and operating the camera system. After that cost is made up, any revenue generated by the fines would be deposited into the statewide Transportation Trust Fund.
©2020 The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, Mass. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
