Ambrosino: Red light cameras could save lives

REVERE – Mayor Thomas Ambrosino supports a proposed state law expanding the use of cameras mounted on traffic signals.The devices would allow police to send traffic violation citations to drivers who run red lights and risk hitting other vehicles or pedestrians.Last year, Ambrosino proposed placing cameras on traffic signals under city jurisdiction on North Shore Road. Police also want to place the cameras on Routes 60 and 1A – Lee Burbank Highway – but state highway officials have yet to authorize installation of the cameras.The mayor urged councilors to follow the lead of Saugus, Lawrence and Methuen and install high-speed cameras at intersections on major roads like North Shore Road.He said the city could pay for the cameras by getting authority to collect revenue from citations issued to red light violators rather than sending the money to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.The legislation Ambrosino currently supports would allow cities to install red light cameras.”At a time when municipal budgets are stretched and the availability of personnel to conduct traffic enforcement is limited, these devices offer municipalities a no cost option of attaining the enforcement necessary to satisfy public safety needs,” Ambrosino said, adding in a letter to councilors, “Operators and passengers alike are far more vulnerable to serious injury or death in this than in any other crash scenario.”An outdoor camera trained on a section of Ocean Avenue filmed a car seconds before it struck and killed a Revere man on Dec. 31, 2006. Investigators used the film to track down the car and, eventually, the driver.In addition to installing signal cameras, Ambrosino also wants speed limit signs posted on North Shore Road. The straightaway running through Point of Pines and Oak Island has been the site of fatal accidents and a source of complaints about speeders from residents and councilors.The state highway department plans to conduct a speed limit study on North Shore Road in the near future.”New speed limit signage will be installed when a revised speed limit regulation is approved and signed,” District Highway Director Patricia Leavenworth stated in a March 7 letter to the mayor.