The city of Syracuse is making a few changes to its new school zone speed and red-light camera program after hearing some concerns from lawmakers.
Up to now, drivers caught on camera speeding or running red lights in a school zone have received warning letters. Starting next week, they’ll be sent traffic tickets. Common Councilors this week were ready to vote on delaying that timeline. Lawmakers like Rasheada Caldwell were concerned about the placement of some of the cameras.
“There's cameras in places where there's no children,” Caldwell said. “But where there should be cameras, there's not. So I'm a little displeased by that because if we're talking about safety, it should have been safety first. Not about the dollar. We want our children to be safe.”
The Walsh administration is promising to make things right, with plans to move more than a dozen cameras. Connor Muldoon, chief operating officer for the city, says the city will move more than a dozen cameras.
“We're going to be working with the Council to propose several new locations that are closer to schools," said Connor Muldoon, chief operating officer for the city. “There are some strict limitations from the New York state enabling law that require very specific parameters for where these cameras can potentially be located. So we'll be working with our engineering department, our law department, and our municipal violations bureau in addition to our Council to confirm those new locations and get those cameras up."
During the first two weeks of the program, nearly 60,000 motorists received warning letters. That dropped by 40% over the next two weeks, and Muldoon thinks that trend will continue.
“We anticipate those numbers are going to continue to drop, and they're going to continue to drop faster as we move to enforcement,” he said. “Because once people know that speeding in a school zone is a $50 fine, people are going to be much more likely to change their behavior."
Starting Monday, November 3, anyone caught speeding or running a red light in a school zone will get a ticket that carries at least a $50 fine.
