Should cameras catch drivers speeding in Mass. as Healey proposes?

Massachusetts has become notorious for bad driving – a behavior that proponents of speed cameras say leads to hundreds of fatalities every year.

Gov. Maura Healey is one of those supporters who is trying to get the Legislature to pass her proposal that’s attached to her next spending budget.

The proposal would allow speed cameras only and not cameras that catch people running red lights.

“I think for us, it’s a quality of life issue,” Healey told a crowd during the Massachusetts Municipal Association Connect 351 conference in Boston Friday morning.

The measure would leave it up to cities and towns in Massachusetts to decide if they want to install the street cameras.

“Many communities have put forward a home rule petition on speeding enforcement, and we can’t have a cop on every corner,” said Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll at the same event. “We know we can use technology. This isn’t about revenue, it’s about keeping roads safe, impacting the quality of neighborhoods.”

According to state data, Massachusetts recorded more than 130,000 crashes last year, with a year-average of 380 fatalities over the past decade.

“Speeding is probably the biggest risk factor in terms of whether somebody survives or dies in a crash,” said StreetsBlog Mass Editor Christian Milneil.

Milneil has been keeping track of similar proposals for years. About half of all U.S. states have cities that have implemented traffic enforcement cameras.

He said the bill addresses privacy concerns, as well, limiting how long the images can be kept, and limiting what they can be used for outside of traffic enforcement.

“They initially catch a lot of people breaking the law, but over time, they’re very effective, and they actually don’t issue that many fines, because people know that they need to obey the speed limit, which isn’t really the case right now,” he added.

“Boston and Cambridge have been on the record in supporting this type of technology,” noted Massachusetts Municipal Association CEO Adam Champdelaine. “It gives the local government official, the police chief, the mayor, the manager, the ability to make a decision about what they think is best to keep their streets safe.”

“It doesn’t seem like a lot of speeding tickets are being given out, and people are driving faster than ever,” complained Boston resident Noah Sachs.

“We really don’t like them at all. We just think it’s not, good like it’s sort of invading your privacy,” said California resident Laurie Romero, who was visiting Boston on Friday.

Milneil said the cameras would issue a warning for a first speeding, then a $25 fine for every violation after the first.

The Legislature has until the end of June to vote on the governor’s budget, which the camera measure is tied to. If passed, it would still take about a year before municipalities can implement the technology.