Boston Globe, December 2024
The intersection of Congress and Sudbury streets is one of the many crossings where all the trappings that make driving in Boston so notorious converge: long queues of cars, their impatient drivers honking horns and cheating into the bus lanes as mopeds weave through the stalled traffic and pedestrians dodge vehicles ignoring the no turn on red sign. In the span of 30 minutes on a recent December afternoon, within sight of City Hall, more than 20 motorists raced through a red light with no sign of enforcement anywhere, despite a Boston police station just a few yards away on Sudbury Street. From her perch at the neighboring Boston Public Market, Naomi Cannistraci, 57, owner of The Popover Lady, witnesses the traffic mayhem every day and said the proximity to the police station “makes no difference. People don’t care.”
Such driving seems to have become accepted practice in Boston and many other places in Massachusetts. But, had those drivers been in Providence, New York City, Chicago, or hundreds of other communities outside Massachusetts, they would likely have gotten a ticket—not from a police officer, but from an automated enforcement system that captured their traffic violation on camera. Using the technology for traffic violations is not allowed under state law in Massachusetts. But, increasingly, some municipal leaders sayit’s time to change that.
“We have an epidemic of dangerous behavior on our roads,” said Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Boston’s chief of streets. “Automated enforcement is a proven way to improve safety. We should take advantage of it here in Boston.” Communities in 23 states use cameras for red light violations and 22 states allow them to catch speeders, according to the International Institute for Highway Safety. Proponents argue camera-based traffic policing enhances safety, helps lessen the strain on law enforcement, and can even reduce the risk of racial bias in traffic enforcement.
