Voters in Cleveland to Decide Fate of Automatic Traffic Cameras

As Joanna Richards reports for ideastream, more than 13,000 Clevelanders have signed a petition presented to the Cuyahoga Board of Elections. Indeed, this is thousands more than necessary to get a proposed charter amendment on the November ballot.

According to the petition, the proposed measure would "require a police officer to be present near a traffic camera, and issue the ticket directly to the motorist at the time of the violation. That would effectively kill the use of the cameras by removing them as an efficient alternative to in-person policing."

Currently, these automatic traffic cameras detect cars passing through intersections on red lights, and document their violation, making it very difficult to challenge the citation in court.

However, opponents to the measure "say a referendum isn’t needed, since the legality of the cameras is before the state Supreme Court, and a proposed statewide ban may come up for a vote in the legislature this fall."