Speed Cameras: Working in Chicago; Needed in Philadelphia

A pair of articles updated the status of speed cameras as a traffic safety measure in two major American cities.

In Chicago, Steven Vance shares the details of a press release from the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), "stating that the number of speeding cars observed by its 51 speed cameras has fallen an average of 43 percent ever since the first week of the cameras’ operation. At some locations, the number of speeders dropped as much as 99 percent." That system as already delivered 1.25 million warnings and 230,000 citations. CDOT laos has plans to install cameras at 12 new sites in the coming months.

Christopher Moraff details the effort to legalize speed cameras in Philadelphia, via the state of Pennsylvania: "The state is the only one in the nation that enforces a blanket prohibition on municipal police use of speed radar. Under current law, which dates to 1961, radar is only permitted for use by state troopers, and local cops have long complained that they are forced to rely on less-sophisticated timing methods — like stopwatches and painted lines — to nab speeders. However, Harrisburg lawmakers currently have five bills moving through the House and Senate that would end the long-standing prohibition."