BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Buffalo lawmakers want to say the speed camera program is "a failure" and end its controversial use in the city.
The speed zone cameras were intended to slow down vehicles in school zones to mitigate the chances that a person or another vehicle would be hit by a car around a school. However, lawmakers argued the cameras were concentrated in school zones with the highest traffic volumes and disproportionately affected those in low-income neighborhoods.
A resolution was introduced which would remove the cameras and prohibit their use. The cameras would be replaced by an LED radar speed sign by September 1. Refund checks would also be issued within 90 days.
Councilman Rasheed Wyatt said there would be "non-punitive" measures to replace the cameras, such as speed humps.
"At the end of the day, we want to make sure the cameras come down," Wyatt said.
Sensys Gatso, the company behind the speed zone cameras, believes the program is not a "failure".
"The program is working," Sensys Gatso said. "Those who oppose the program oppose following the law, it is as simple as that. It is even more simple to understand the concept that if you don't speed, you won't get a ticket. In the City of Buffalo, the school zone speed limit is 15mph. No one is issued a ticket unless they are driving 11 mph over that speed limit."
"Why would anyone want to reward these thousands of speeding drivers who could significantly injured or worse - cause the death of a child or pedestrian? Nobody should play politics with the lives of the citizens they swore an oath to protect."
Concerned residents primarily spoke out against the program during Tuesday's committee meeting. Some of those speaking out against the speed cameras were from the region, though there were speakers from New York City who joined the conversation in support of the cameras.
"We believe in and advocate for the speed-safety cameras as the most effective speed enforcement tool to save lives and the most fair and just tool for drivers," Marco Conner DiAquoi of the NYC-based Transportation Alternatives said. "A $50 ticket is not worth more than a life. The various ills of the policing system do not exist in the speed camera program as they operate here in New York State."
Wyatt said the letter from Sensys Gatso was "disrespectful" to the community because they benefit from the tickets.
