Thomas Breen photo
Behavior change for drivers, not pocket change for city coffers, drove a proposal to install red-light and speed cameras toward another recommended approval.
That approval came Wednesday night when the City Plan Commission voted unanimously to support an Elicker administration effort to put up “automated traffic enforcement safety devices” — translation, red-light and speed cameras — in 19 different spots across New Haven.
The positive vote took place a day after the Board of Alders Legislation and Public Safety committees also endorsed the traffic camera proposal, and roughly a month after top city officials first introduced the new-state-law-enabled local effort. The proposal now heads to the full Board of Alders for further review and a potential final vote.
During Wednesday night’s online meeting, city transit director Sandeep Aysola repeatedly framed the traffic camera plan as trying to change the way that drivers in New Haven act.
Namely, to discourage them from speeding in school zones and cruising through red lights.
It would do so by having cameras record an image of the license plate of the offending vehicle, and then, after review of that footage by a city-contracted vendor and by a city transit employee, have a ticket worth $50 to $75 sent to the vehicle’s owner.
“This is not about revenue,” Aysola stressed. “This is hoping for behavior change.”
Wait a minute, urged Commission Chair Leslie Radcliffe. “I’m just having difficulty wrapping my mind around the fairness of” having an automated ticket and fine being sent to a car’s owner, as opposed to the driver who ran the red light. “How does that translate into safety?” she asked, if it’s the owner and not the driver being punished? Perhaps the behavior change the city is seeking is to discourage car owners from lending their vehicles out to people whose reckless driving incurs fines for the owners?
Aysola said that there is indeed “some accountability from the owner’s perspective, making sure vehicles are used responsibly.”
He also said that the enabling state legislation for this traffic safety camera program requires that these cameras document a vehicle’s license plate, and not the driver. “There are some states that take a picture of the driver,” identify the driver “through different avenues,” and then send the citation to the driver. “There are some privacy-related issues” when trying to track a driver, he said, and so, for Connecticut’s relevant legislation, taking pictures of people driving is not allowed, but taking pictures of the offending vehicle is.
What happens if somebody doesn’t pay the $50 fine? asked Commissioner Carl Goldfield. Would the fine double? Are there any consequences to not paying?
Under the relevant state statute, Aysola replied, there cannot be “any escalation of fees.” Unlike with a parking ticket, “these [fines] are not going to double or triple” if left unpaid.
However, “you can still do a civil judgment,” he said. That is: the city can “go through the code and a judicial marshal can go out and issue a civil judgment” worth the total fine plus related costs and fees.
“We’re talking about changed behavior,” Goldfield said towards the end of the discussion on Wednesday. “From what I’ve heard about this ordinance, I’m not going to change my behavior.” That behavior, he said, is: “When I’m at a red light, and it changes and I get the green, I never go through the intersection until I make certain that everyone has stopped.
“I’ve seen too many people stomp on that gas and go through red lights,” he said. “I don’t want to be t‑boned.”
He described the traffic camera plan as a “step in the right direction. But I wish we had stronger penalties and possibilities of enforcement.”
Radcliffe offered a different behavior-change data point before she and her fellow commissioners voted in support of recommending that the Board of Alders approve the camera plan.
She said the only time she’s ever run a red light was once in New Jersey. In a part of the state with red-light cameras up. “They took my picture, sent me a letter. I’ve never run a red light again. Not in New Jersey,” she said. And not in New Haven either.
Proposed 19 locations for red light and speed cameras.
Officials announcing the plan on March 18.
To answer one of my friend Leslie’s questions, the ticket goes to the vehicle owner because that who is responsible for it. If you get a ticket while driving a rental car, the ticket initially goes to the rental company that owns the car. They will then send it to you, because you signed a contract saying you would be responsible for paying any tickets when you rented the car.
If an owner reports that their car was stolen, the owner is not responsible for tickets issued under the program.
I have been caught twice by automated enforcement cameras in the last 30 years. Like Leslie, I have not repeated the offenses.