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City looks into adding speed cameras to busy roads

By Joe Bruno, wsoctv.com
By Joe Bruno, wsoctv.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Speed cameras mounted on busy roads could improve safety, but it comes with some controversy.

Charlotte city leaders stopped using similar red-light cameras more than a decade ago because the NC Court of Appeals ruled 90 percent of the funding must go to schools.

[City Council not ready to commit to giving red light cameras the green light]

The city of Charlotte has an ambitious goal of eliminating all pedestrian deaths in which speeding plays a major factor.

City staffers want to explore putting speed cameras on busy streets to deter drivers from speeding.

Charlotte would be the first city in North Carolina with the speed camera technology.

p>“People speed because they know they can speed, and they know they are not going to get caught in this city,” Mayor Pro Tem Julie Eiselt said.

Staffers presented their plan to eliminate traffic fatalities -- the Vision 0 report.

The most controversial of the recommendations are the speed cameras, which is what the technology looks like in Dayton, Ohio.

Eiselt said studies have shown they are effective.

“If you come back, and you say, ‘You are barking up the wrong tree,’ and say, ‘There is no data to support red light or speed cameras,’ I will stop asking,” Eiselt said.

If approved, the cameras wouldn't be in place right away.

They would need a state law passed in Raleigh, which is a goal to have in place by 2020.

The first cameras would go up in school zones by 2025.

The city wants legislative approval for cameras citywide by 2025 with the technology in place by 2030.

“The idea of speed cameras is absurd,” driver Duran Davis said.

The city's idea will likely face pushback.

“You want to protect the other citizens on the road, but the officers need to get out here and patrol that,” Davis said. “I don't think speed cameras should be allowed.”

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