Both proposals go further than a program recommended by the Vermont Agency of Transportation in 2022, which called for a one-year pilot at three road construction work zones.
The broader of the new legislative proposals, S.184, would allow state and local officials to deploy automated cameras at any intersection with a traffic light, as well as along stretches of road with work zones and high rates of speeding.
Lead sponsor Sen. Martine Larocque Gulick (D-Chittenden-Central) introduced the bill in the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday. She said automated cameras could unburden cops at a time when police departments are short-staffed and deter traffic violations without the discriminatory drawbacks of roadside stops.
“It gives us some ability to regulate some behaviors that are potentially very, very dangerous,” Gulick said.
More than 20 states, including New York, use either speed cameras or red-light cameras, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The U.S. Department of Transportation, under the Biden administration, has promoted their use as part of a national strategy for reducing traffic deaths.
But other states, including Maine and New Hampshire, have passed laws to prohibit the technology. Critics say the cameras can be miscalibrated or abused by law enforcement, do more to raise revenue than improve safety, and infringe on civil rights. Their deployment has also perpetuated racial disparities in traffic enforcement in some places, largely because they’ve been used in lower-income neighborhoods with poorly designed road infrastructure.
Gulick’s proposal, cosponsored by Sens. Thomas Chittenden (D-Chittenden-Southeast) and Nader Hashim (D-Windham), would impose civil fines on the registered owner of vehicles caught speeding more than 10 miles per hour above the posted limit.
The fines would begin with the second violation during any 12-month period and would not count against the owner’s driver’s license. Speeding tickets issued using automated cameras would start at $22 and increase according to the number and severity of violations. The cost of running a red light would be $75.
Registered owners would be liable even if someone else was driving their car, but they could appeal the ticket.
Gulick said she decided to put forward the bill after hearing from Burlington residents who were concerned about safety for schoolchildren and commuters who walk or bike along busy city streets. She cited the depleted ranks of the Burlington Police Department as a barrier to more traditional traffic enforcement.
“It would be really great for municipalities to have this option, especially in times when enforcement is both dangerous and diminished,” she said.
In fact, the Burlington Police Department reduced its traffic enforcement in the years before its officer count began to drop. Traffic enforcement is down more than 70 percent since 2018, according to department data. Crashes have not increased in Burlington during that time, state data reviewed by Seven Days indicate.
A separate bill in the House, H.562, employs much of the same language as the Senate version, but its scope is temporary and more narrow. Under the bill, speed cameras could be installed at work zones and just two other locations with high rates of crashes or speeding. Fines, though, would be steeper: $200 on the second violation, $500 for each thereafter. The program would expire in 2027.
Reps. Sara Coffey (D-Guilford), Martin LaLonde (D-South Burlington) and Butch Shaw (R-Pittsford) are sponsoring the House bill.
Legislative committees have yet to take testimony on either bill, but senators on the transportation committee said on Tuesday that they were interested in discussing the measure.
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