Milwaukee traffic safety, mayor renews call for cameras
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson is reviving a push to use traffic cameras to catch bad drivers. However, state law does not allow it.
"We need to arm ourselves with every available tool to make our roads safer," Johnson said.
Johnson and County Executive David Crowley are taking the lead on an old pitch. They want the state to allow red-light and speed cameras to snap photos of license plates – and mail tickets to the vehicle's registered owner.
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"Reckless driving has reached crisis levels right here in Milwaukee County. We have had mothers, daughters, sons and fathers lost to this growing epidemic," said Crowley.
Johnson formally declared reckless driving a public safety crisis when he took office in late December 2021.
"Milwaukee will save lives as well as prevent unnecessary injury on our roadways here in the city," Johnson said.
"You can only have so many police officers, right?" the mayor continued. "Traffic enforcement is a key component to policing, but police have a myriad of issues that they've got to address on a daily basis. And so, if we're able to free some police officers up from having to enforce traffic law, then it allows them to be able to respond to other calls while still making sure that that enforcement is still happening."
Wisconsin law doesn't allow tickets to be sent if a camera catches speeders or red-light runners. For years, proposals at the Wisconsin Capitol to allow them have stalled.
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"The answer to our current problem is not red-light running cameras. These guys don’t give a damn about getting a ticket. I’m telling you. These are the same individuals who are taunting the police," said State Rep. Bob Donovan (R-Greenfield)
AAA finds that 28% of crash deaths at intersections with lights were blamed on drivers running a red light. But would red-light cameras help make streets safer? There are competing studies.
"Studies have shown that automated traffic safety cameras reduce crashes on urban, principal arterials by up to 47% for injury crashes," Johnson said.
"Rear-end accidents have increased due to red-light running cameras. Why? Because they’re stopping all of a sudden. ‘Oh, a red light!’ And they get slammed into," Donovan said.
A Case Western researcher found no evidence that red-light cameras cut down on total accidents or injuries. Meanwhile, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found the cameras help save lives, writing in a report: "Red light camera programs in 79 large U.S. cities saved nearly 1,300 lives through 2014, researchers from the IIHS found. Shutting down such programs costs lives, with the rate of fatal red-light-running crashes shooting up 30% in cities that have turned off cameras."
For now, the state isn't giving the green light to red-light cameras.