Red Light & Speed Cameras Under Consideration In Fairfield

FAIRFIELD, CT — Improving safety on Fairfield's streets has been a major objective of First Selectman Bill Gerber, and continuing in that vein, the Representative Town Meeting is scheduled to vote at its Feb. 24 meeting on a plan to install red light and speeding cameras along the town's roadways.

Six members of the RTM have co-sponsored amendments to the town's ordinances to allow for the installation of the cameras, referred to as "automated traffic enforcement safety devices," around Fairfield, paying particular attention to "school zones, pedestrian safety zones, and other places":

The purpose of the use of automated traffic enforcement safety devices is to promote public safety and general welfare of the residents of and visitors to the Town, and its common interest to enact reasonable regulations pertaining to the reduction, control and/or prevention of traffic fatalities and pedestrian injuries and deaths so as to promote the public safety, convenience, general welfare, and quality of life of the Town’s residents.

The six co-sponsors are Dave Rock, District 2; Michelle McCabe, District 4; Chris Carroll, District 8; Christine Ludwiczak, District 8; Karen Wackerman, District 9; and Pierre Ratzki, District 10.

In December, Gerber and the town's department heads signed the Vision Zero Pledge, a national "strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all."

Automated traffic enforcement safety devices capture images of a vehicle and license plate, and as such, the owner of the vehicle that commits a violation would receive a $50 ticket in the mail for a first offense, and a $75 ticket for subsequent violations.

Images captured by the ATESD would reviewed by "a sworn member or employee of the Town's Police Department, a sworn member of the Fairfield Traffic Authority, or an employee of the Town as designated by the traffic authority," who would decide whether a violation occurred and issue the ticket.

Money collected from the fines "shall be used for the purposes of improving transportation mobility, investing in transportation infrastructure improvements, or paying the costs reasonably associated with the running and use of ATESDs within the Town."