House Bill 5917 passed through the House on Tuesday by a vote of 104 to 46 in an effort to curb the growing trend of traffic fatalities in Connecticut.
“Our street is supposed to be 25, 30 in a residential area, and they’ll go 50 mph,” said New Britain’s Vincenza Ciampi.
In Hartford, lawmakers are working to find solutions, and this week, a bill that would allow red light and speed cameras in certain cities passed through the House.
“This doesn’t hurt anybody. If you get caught in one of these things and you don’t want to, it’s a very simple thing–don’t run red lights and don’t speed. It seems like a simple process to me,” said Rep. Greg Howard (R-Stonington), who voted in favor of the bill.
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The bill, born from the state’s Vision Zero Council which works to promote safer driving, would allow individual municipalities to vote on their own plan for implementing the cameras. That plan would then be reviewed by the Department of Transportation before installment.
“It’s not a situation where every single intersection would have speed cameras and red light cameras. It’s really purposeful in terms of location to try and reduce crashes, reduce the rates of speeding,” said Josh Morgan, spokesperson for the DOT.
But for some lawmakers, it’s that variance in process at the town level that was cause for concern.
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“For different towns to have different processes and to have their local judicative process, it’s going to differ because the legislation did not have any guard rails,” said Rep. Craig Fishbein (R-Wallingford).
DOT said that if the bill passes, areas with cameras would be clearly marked, and those who are mailed a ticket would not get points on their license that could affect insurance.
“Is it a perfect bill, is it a perfect process? No, but is it something that will at least limit traffic crashes in some areas and save some lives? Yes,” Howard said.
The bill did not pass through the House before undergoing several amendments. The original bill included other safety provisions, like requiring helmets for motorcyclists and prohibiting opener alcohol containers in vehicles. Those two aspects were left out of the final product.
The bill will now move to the Senate, where they will have two weeks to vote.
