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May 02, 2023

Red light cameras get CT House approval with traffic enforcement down, fatalities up

With traffic enforcement down and fatalities up, state legislators voted to

With traffic enforcement down and fatalities up, state legislators voted to allow towns to install red-light and speed cameras that would generate both tickets and revenue for the municipalities.

After extended debate, the state House of Representatives voted 104-46 on a bipartisan basis Tuesday to improve enforcement at a time when traffic fatalities have jumped sharply — more than 300 people died last year on Connecticut roadways. That included 231 drivers and passengers in accidents, along with 75 pedestrians who had been walking or riding a bicycle when hit by a vehicle.

So far this year, 90 people have died on state and local roads in the first one-third of the year.

Following the long history of home rule in Connecticut, cities and towns would have the option of using red-light cameras. Officials could not predict how many might choose to do so. If the camera detects a driver racing through a red light, it would automatically trigger a picture of the car and license plate. The car's owner would then receive a ticket in the U.S. mail.

Drivers running through red lights and stop signs are an issue in every town, said House majority leader Jason Rojas of East Hartford.

"I mean, every morning I watch people run stop signs all over the place," said Rojas, who works in Hartford. "And it's no particular group that's doing it. I’ve started to make the observation about who's doing this. It's everybody. And then not everybody, I mean, I would say 90% of people stop at stop signs. It's that 10% that we’re always trying to address. But it's also that 10% that cause the most harm."

House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford said that traffic enforcement is down partly because of the much-criticized police accountability law that was crafted after the death of George Floyd while handcuffed in police custody in Minneapolis.

"We have a crisis in our state with being able to enforce traffic stops," Candelora told reporters. "It is in part due to the police accountability bill, passed by the Democrats, that really prohibits police officers from making appropriate consent searches and making appropriate stops. So now to suggest we’re going to put cameras in place to regulate this behavior that is taking people's lives or severely injuring them, it might be a laudable goal, but it doesn't address the issue. We need law enforcement to be able to do their jobs."

The new law, signed by Gov. Ned Lamont in July 2020, has handcuffed police who often fear chasing many traffic violators in cases that could lead to crashes and possible civil lawsuits, Candelora said.

"If somebody runs through a stop sign, it's just not a blanket license to pursue them," Candelora said. "The reality is when you talk to every police officer, given the impact of qualified immunity, given the impact of the decrease for law enforcement on our roads, they are not enforcing those laws any more — and we see it on our highways. We have a bigger problem here. … I think we’re trying to thread the line between a Democrat legislature that doesn't want to hold people accountable, but at the same time wants to stop the bad behavior. We have a lot of legislators that are anti-police, and they’re anti-enforcement."

But Rep. Steven Stafstrom, a Bridgeport Democrat who co-chairs the legislature's judiciary committee, said Floyd's death and the police accountability law are not the cause of lax traffic enforcement by police.

"That's hogwash," Stafstrom told reporters Wednesday. "It's complete hogwash. Here we go again. … It has nothing to do with a national uptick in reckless driving and speeding that every state has experienced, not just Connecticut. To suggest that police accountability has anything to do with folks driving faster on our roads is just bupkis."

The measure now heads to the Democratic-controlled state Senate, where proponents are expecting passage before the legislative session adjourns June 7.

Traffic fatalities are up statewide in Connecticut, but they are particularly acute in Hartford, where police have pledged to increase their efforts against reckless drivers.

The accidents have included the tragic death of Prince Tech basketball coach Kendall May, who was killed in March in a hit-and-run accident, as well as another hit-and-run incident that recently injured four women. Local police statistics show that Hartford last year had 1,493 crashes, 742 injuries and eight fatalities connected to aggressive driving and speeding.

Legislators have been trying to make improvements as fatalities have reached record highs. The deaths increased in 2021 to 326, which was the highest total since the state started keeping comprehensive records on an annual basis in 1994. That compares to 301 deaths in 2020 and 250 in 2019.

At a time of low morale and below-normal staffing, traffic enforcement by the state police dropped by more than half during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time that drivers traveled faster, enforcement fell sharply in several major categories, including total stops, tickets issued, and warnings given to drivers.

History

Red light cameras have been highly controversial for more than a decade at the Capitol, where various proposals were rejected after concerns were raised that due process rights would be discarded and minority communities in the inner cities would feel the impact more than in the suburbs.

But lawmakers said that society has changed with automatic cameras seemingly everywhere on roadways, intersections and retail stores, among others.

"Things have changed," Ritter said. "We did the best we could. It got 104 votes. Pretty high numbers."

Courant staff writer Alison Cross contributed to this report.

Christopher Keating can be reached at [email protected]

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