If you’ve gotten in the habit of speeding or running red lights, you might want to reconsider.
What’s happening: Minneapolis city officials want the power to install traffic enforcement cameras to ticket drivers for those behaviors.
Why it matters: Electronic eyes could help city officials slow cars down and make streets safer.
Yes, but: The idea has been controversial for years because of the thorny civil liberties and privacy issues it raises.
Driving the news: Lawmakers in the state House and Senate have introduced proposals that would give cities the authority to set up speed enforcement cameras.
- Minneapolis officials support these bills and hope to push for amendments that would also allow cameras for ticketing red light-runners.
What they’re saying: “I don’t think we talk enough about traffic safety when we think about the things that are making people in our city unsafe,” state Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura (DFL-Minneapolis), who co-authored one of the proposals, told attendees at a recent virtual town hall .