Red light cameras got the green light from the New Haven Board of Alders, making the Elm City one step closer to being the first city in Connecticut to install the tech.
It was a unanimous yes from city leadership, but some still raise concerns about how the tech will be rolled out.
The cameras still need approval from the Department of Transportation and the city still needs to identify a contractor to install the cameras.
But those walking in the area of Orange and Edwards streets, a location identified by the city to put a camera, say it will be good for the neighborhood.
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“First the safety of students here, this is a big area for students, so I think it's good for everyone, good for the students, good for the community,” Opeyeni Awotire, who lives around the corner from the intersection, said.
He said any increase in safety for those walking or driving is good.
“Any traffic education is number one, enforcement's number one. Engineering is the third thing. Those three things will account for everything,” Drew Hertsch said.
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On Monday night, New Haven’s Board of Alders gave the green light to the installation of 11 red light cameras and eight speed safety cameras.
According to the city, the red light cameras will be installed at intersections based on crash data, and the speed cameras are slated to be installed near schools.
“Some people feel like that’s a lot, I feel like this is a way to test this out to see if it works,” New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said.
The technology would record license plates, date, time and location of traffic violations. For the first 30 days the cameras are installed, the system would send warnings to car owners.
After the 30-day window, first-time offenders would be hit with a $50 fine, and all subsequent offenses would mean a $75 fine. The fines would be sent to the car owner, not the operator.
“There is still going to be some time before these things come into existence, but it's going to make our city safer,” Elicker said.
But not everyone is on board.
Resident Zeb Mayer called the dispersed installation of the cameras violation traps because traffic enforcement isn’t universally policed around the city. He noted they should be installed everywhere or not at all.
“There needs to be some kind of precedence, some kind of uniform understanding because right now, it's sort of the wild west," Mayer said. "Putting random traps throughout aren’t going to move the needle.”
The Greater New Haven Chapter of the NAACP has been opposed to the tech from the beginning.
They issued the following statement to NBC Connecticut:
“The Greater New Haven Branch of the NAACP continues stands against the installation of speed and red-light cameras in our community. These devices, while purportedly intended to promote safety, have been shown to disproportionately impact Black and disenfranchised neighborhoods, targeting people of color and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Per the National, State and Local stance on this issue, we are concerned that our communities are once again being subjected to measures that increase financial strain without clear evidence of improved safety outcomes. Studies have consistently failed to demonstrate that these cameras effectively reduce car speeds, accidents or reckless driving. Instead, they serve as another tool of systemic inequity, disproportionately penalizing our citizens and perpetuating cycles of disadvantage."
But the president of the Board of Alders in New Haven, Tyisha Walker-Myers, said they of course have the opposition of the NAACP in mind, and she noted it is the board's responsibility to ensure those concerns don’t become reality.
“We are creating history. The city is going to be safe, we are going to make sure we aren’t targeting people,” Walker-Meyers said.
New Haven could be the first city in Connecticut to install the technology as other cities and towns consider the cameras but, according to city officials, DOT has indicated none have gone to them for approval of a plan at this point.
“We are going to make sure we are doing it right, New Haven is always a model for other cities, and we are going to be a model for the red light cameras as well,” Walker-Meyers said.
