OFF THE WIRE
It's riding season, so watch out for cameras as well as idiots in cars.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_1eacbee1-e240-5a39-b210-bcb009a1531c.html
A portable speed camera (right) sits on the Lackland Road bridge pointing down on the north bound traffic of Interstate 170 in Charlack. Huy Mach hmach@post-dispatch.com
MoDOT sets rules for red-light, speed cameras
Drivers along stretch of I-70 get belated speed warning
Interstate 70 may soon become the region's next photo-enforced freeway.
St. Ann and other municipalities agreed this week to apply to the Missouri Department of Transportation for permission to use speed cameras. Earlier this year, the state Highways and Transportation Commission said there was a place for speed cameras on state-controlled highways.
St. Ann Police Chief Robert Schrader said some of the cities in a so-called Travel Safe Zone intended to rotate the speed cameras at various spots along the seven-mile stretch of I-70 just west of the St. Louis city limit. Police agencies in eight cities banded together last year to establish the zone, stepping up speeding patrols and doubling speeding fines.
But not all of those municipalities will train cameras on the highway. Schrader said he hoped three or more would be interested. The cameras would be posted along the highway in both directions.
Schrader said conventional police patrols would continue to be the "primary speed deterrent tool" on I-70, traversed by more than 120,000 vehicles a day.
But those who want the cameras apparently don't intend to wait long.
Schrader suggested that municipalities whose ordinances already permit speed cameras might post them as soon as the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. St. Ann will not be among them, he said.
Pine Lawn, which has a portable speed camera near the Pine Lawn Elementary School, has not approved the use of speed cameras on I-70, said Police Chief Rickey Collins.
"That may be something we consider down the road," said Collins, adding that it would have to be ratified by the Board of Aldermen.
Because the plan calls for rotating the equipment, the speed cameras would be deployed differently than the ones posted last year by the city of Charlack on a quarter-mile stretch of I-170. Charlack, which came under heavy criticism, later removed the cameras, saying they had achieved their goal of reducing speeding.
In January 2010, St. Ann installed a speed camera on Ashby Road near Hoech Middle School. Still, the St. Ann Board of Aldermen would have to pass an ordinance to expand the use of speed cameras to the interstate. Schrader said he would prefer to wait until July at the earliest to place cameras on I-70.
He said conventional police patrols had caught only 50 percent of the people speeding while the stepped-up enforcement was in place. Should cameras be deployed, they would target only cars traveling at least 11 mph over the speed limit, he added.
Earlier this week, officials from some of the eight cities met with a representative of B&W Sensors LLC at a restaurant near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, said Northwoods Police Chief Earl Heitzenroeder.
"They weren't trying to force anything on us," he said.
Schrader said B&W wanted photo enforcement on the highway by Memorial Day. John Baine of B&W Sensors — the company that supplies the speed cameras — declined comment.
If the proposed cameras are deployed on I-70 this weekend, an officer would be present with the equipment. There also would be warning signs to alert I-70 drivers of the photo enforcement.
Police chiefs in the Travel Safe Zone have insisted that their primary objective is safety and cracking down on dangerous driving.
"If I could figure out a way to get people to change their behavior without fines, I would be all for that," Schrader said.
But critics, including St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch, have said in the past that speed cameras should be regulated and appeared to be more about generating revenue than about safety. Fitch said that if the cameras were about safety, the revenue should go somewhere other than the cities' coffers.
"When they first started their meetings, I felt it was a prelude to speed cameras on (Interstate) 70, and basically it sounds like it is headed in that direction," he said Thursday.
Fitch said the end of the legislative session in Jefferson City this year would give the cities and speed-camera vendor a chance to operate for up to a year before state lawmakers can take the issue up in 2012.
Under the highway commission guidelines, speed cameras are permitted on state highways only in school zones, MoDOT work zones and Travel Safe Zones. The Travel Safe Zones — such as the one on I-70 — are stretches of highway that have "above average" crash problems.
MoDOT spokeswoman Linda Wilson said that the agency had "been in conversation" with the municipalities but that they had not submitted a formal proposal yet.
At least three municipalities in the I-70 zone won't participate. Berkeley Police Chief Frank McCall said his area had no "immediate plans" to roll out speed cameras along its stretch of the highway. Woodson Terrace Mayor Lawrence "Butch" Besmer and Northwoods Mayor Everett Thomas said their municipalities also were not interested.
"It's better handled with policemen," Besmer said.
