Saugus traffic light cameras still on hold

SAUGUS-It has been more than a year since Selectmen voted to install red light cameras at two intersections in town, but the film has yet to roll.Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said the town has been waiting on the state to settle a few issues before the cameras can be installed.”The red light project is still on hold, but I’ve been in touch with the company . . . we’re just waiting for the legislation to be put in place,” he said.Selectmen voted last fall to install cameras at the intersection of Walnut and Central streets and Ballard Street and Route 107. The cameras are designed to take a video and a picture of the license plate of any motorist that runs a red light. The picture is encrypted with the date, time and location of the infraction.Selectman Peter Rossetti, who was chairman at the time of the vote, said he is hopeful the cameras will eventually be installed. He said it is his understanding that the issue in the legislature hangs on how the tickets would be issued.The board initially toyed with the idea of using local authority to issue the tickets, which would have resulted in a fine similar to a parking ticket. But because that would have taken an act of the legislature and require the town to hire a traffic clerk, Police Chief James MacKay instead decided to go with the state version. The problem, Rossetti said, is the state hasn’t quiet worked out the details yet.Rossetti said he believes the issue centers on how exactly the tickets will be issued, if they need to be actually signed by an officer. He said the question is in the hands of the either the Department of Transportation or the Registry of Motor Vehicles.”We did have a plan in place,” Bisignani said. “It was not the best plan and we determined it would be in the town’s best interest to wait until the right state legislation is in place until we went forward.”When the town does go forward, a mobile unit will accompany the cameras. The unit, a marked van, is about the same as having an officer sitting in a cruiser catching speeders with a radar gun, except a motorist caught in the trap wouldn’t be stopped. Instead the speeder would receive a citation in the mail.Again, the issue of how the tickets would be dispersed is holding up the works.Bisignani said he expects the legislation to be settled sometime in 2008″It’s discouraging,” Rossetti said. “Government tends to operate much slower than anyone could ever imagine, but we’re hoping it will happen.”