(TNS) — As traffic enforcement wanes in Cleveland, City Council is warming up to the idea of bringing back automatic traffic cameras to curtail speeders and red-light runners.
Council brought Cleveland police’s top brass into a committee meeting Wednesday to discuss the decline of traffic citations in the city, which cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer showed through court records has been cut in half since 2015. As council members pressed for solutions, like mailing tickets to those who flee cops, several noted that a 2014 ballot initiative, where voters approved a charter change to ban traffic cameras in the city, may have handcuffed Cleveland’s ability to use technology to solve the problem.
“I hear a lot from my residents that there’s real buyer’s remorse,” said Councilman Charles Slife. He suggested that even though state law limits Cleveland’s ability to collect revenue, placing these cameras back in areas like school zones could help keep the public safe by deterring brazen drivers…