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Source: New Haven Register
3/15/2006
By Andy Bromage
NEW HAVEN — Fears of "Big Brother" spying on Connecticut drivers have killed the city-backed red-light camera bill for a second straight year.
The legislature’s Judiciary Committee voted down a bill to permit intersection cameras that photograph drivers blowing red lights or speeding and mail citations to the car owners. Committee members voted 22-16 to kill the proposal, with three members of New Haven’s delegation voting against it and one in favor.
The Monday vote is a setback for Mayor John DeStefano Jr., who has twice sought legislation to place surveillance cameras at some of New Haven’s most dangerous intersections.
"Cameras are everywhere these days," DeStefano said Tuesday. "Our cell phones have cameras. This was not about surveillance. It wasn’t about anything but promoting rules and civility in our neighborhoods."
DeStefano said he will promote the bill again next year.
The Judiciary Committee’s co-chairman, state Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, said reports of government eavesdropping and the national privacy debate filtered down to the red-light bill, making lawmakers and the public wary of its effect.
"Because of what’s going on in Washington, spying and all, there is concern about how far things can go and that spills over into other discussions," said Lawlor, who supported the bill. "In general people start worrying that maybe it’s not a fair fight anymore."
Opponents said the camera bill would have hastened the proliferation of surveillance cameras in society and would not have measurably reduced traffic accidents.
An April 2005 Federal Highway Administration report found that red-light cameras in seven cities around the nation reduced broadside collisions by 379, but increased rear-end crashes by 375 between 2001 and 2004. Broadside collisions result in more fatalities.
Roger Vann, executive director of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, testified against the bill, calling it "the wrong solution to a very serious problem."
"I have three kids and I drive them to school every day," Vann said Tuesday. "I am the last one that wants someone running a red light and blindsiding my van. But this law would not have made the citizens of Connecticut any safer. It just would have made them a little poorer."
The bill would have allowed communities to position surveillance cameras on traffic signals, photograph cars speeding or running red lights and mail $99 tickets to the registered owner, regardless of who was driving.
New Haven Democratic state Reps. Patricia Dillon, Bill Dyson and Juan Candelaria voted against the bill. State Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, voted in favor, and state Rep. Cameron Staples, D-New Haven, did not vote.
Nationwide, 18 states permit some form of automated traffic enforcement.
Washington, D.C.,’s red-light cameras have tallied more than 500,000 violations worth $32 million to the local government, according to published reports, fueling criticism from the American Automobile Association, which suggested the cameras were more about revenue than traffic safety.
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