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Healey signals support for cameras aimed at catching speeders
Gov. Healey wants Massachusetts communities to have the option of installing automated cameras that will snap shots of speeding drivers.
Tucked inside Gov. Maura Healey’s $62 billion budget proposal unveiled earlier this week is a measure that would allow local authorities to deploy special cameras that would be used to enforce speed limits.
Traffic cameras are used in more than 300 communities across the country to help law enforcement catch drivers going over the limit or blowing through red lights. Research from around the world has found that speed camera programs tend to reduce both driving speeds and crashes in affected areas, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The proposal Healey included would only allow cameras to be used for speed enforcement, not to detect red light violations. Cameras would be intended to catch drivers going 11 mph or more over the speed limit, or drivers going more than 6 mph over the limit in a school zone.
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“This is a way to allow municipalities to better enforce what are public safety issues, and also issues that lead to greater traffic congestion,” Healey said Thursday, per The Boston Globe. “So we thought it was a good idea.”
If approved, local authorities would only be able to install one camera per 5,000 residents. Boston, with its 653,833 residents, could therefore be home to as many as 130 cameras. Worcester could see as many as 41 cameras. Local select boards, city councils, and mayors would be able to approve or strike down plans for installing cameras.
The automated cameras would be designed to take photos only when an “enforceable violation” occurs. They would not be allowed to take photos showing the front of the vehicle. Signs notifying the public that speed cameras are in use would have to be installed a “reasonable distance” away from each camera in use.
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Drivers caught speeding would be subject to a warning for their first violation and a $25 fine for their second within a two-year period. After that, fines of $100 would be imposed on those caught driving 25 mph or more over the speed limit.
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Municipalities would not be able to install cameras unless they submit detailed plans to the state that include traffic data about the proposed camera locations. This report would also have to include “the discussion of social and racial equity impacts of the plan and steps the municipality shall take to ensure social and racial equity in the implementation of the plan.”
Efforts to allow cameras like this have stalled in the State House for years. Boston’s Chief of Streets Jascha Franklin-Hodge told the Globe in December that he supports using “automated enforcement” to curb the “epidemic of dangerous behavior” on the city’s roads. State Sen. Will Brownsberger of Belmont has been a vocal proponent of testing out these camera systems, sponsoring legislation that would create a pilot program that includes 10 towns.
“In many municipalities today, the crush of traffic makes it impossible for local police to adequately enforce the traffic laws. Road safety is deteriorating as too many motorists push red lights, exceed speed limits on residential streets, and block congested intersections. Automated enforcement using traffic cameras can help,” Brownsberger wrote in a 2023 blog post about other legislation he sponsored.
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Healey recently signed a bill allowing the MBTA and other transit authorities to install cameras on buses so that fines can be imposed on drivers who park illegally in bus lanes and at bus stops. She signed a separate bill that allows school buses to be outfitted with cameras that catch drivers who illegally pass them while the school buses are stopped.
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