Smile! You’re on camera, Broad Street drivers

Broad Street drivers prepare to slow down Starting Monday the city will activate new speed cameras at spots along the road and start mailing written warnings to drivers caught exceeding post limits After a -day grace period violators will begin receiving tickets with fines that can reach up to per development The goal is to bring down the number of traffic deaths in the city by expanding a campaign that has previously succeeded in slowing down cars and reduces crashes on Roosevelt Boulevard We know Broad Street is clearly one of the city s busiest roads and one of the bulk dangerous roads and unfortunately the evidence has shown that it s gotten worse Over the last five years people have died in crashes on Broad Street Mayor Cherelle Parker announced at an event outside City Hall Wednesday initiatives away from the cacophony of North Broad That figures is totally unacceptable to me This is a milestone that we re marking in current times continuing to collaborate on preventing car crashes injuries and deaths from happening on our streets she mentioned Mary Cherelle Parker spoke outside City Hall at a launch event for the new speed cameras on Broad Street Sept Philly OTIS The Philadelphia Parking Authority installed cameras at intersections stretching from Old York Road near the Montgomery County edge to League Island Boulevard near the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia The speed limit along the bulk of Broad Street is mph Drivers traveling at least mph over the posted limit jeopardy getting tickets The initiative is set to expand further soon thanks to state regulation allowing speed cameras on five traffic corridors and in five school zones Next spring the PPA plans to start installing cameras along Road which includes parts of Baltimore Girard and Hunting Park avenues and several other streets Council passed a measure in April approving seven prospective school zones for cameras On Thursday Parker will send a bill to City Council that would authorize cameras in three other areas she noted She did not name them but city planners have identified priority corridors on Allegheny Avenue Erie Torresdale avenues and a direction extending along Columbus Boulevard Delaware Avenue and Moyamensing Avenue Limiting fatalities The cameras are part of the city s Vision Zero operation which aims to eliminate traffic deaths through various traffic-calming and pedestrian and bicycling safety measures The state legislature first authorized an automated speed camera pilot on Roosevelt Boulevard in which helped reduced crashes and fatalities according to a review published last year Now North Broad has begun to overtake the Boulevard as the city s majority dangerous road functionaries reported Because of the effect that the cameras had on the Boulevard we had a drop in speeding over a drop in crashes and we re going to hope to have that same effect here PPA executive director Rich Lazer disclosed New speed cameras are going up along Broad Street like this one in the block of North Broad Emma Lee WHYY The decrease in crashes was observed on sections of Roosevelt Boulevard with cameras from to even as they increased slightly on similar roads according to the examination by University of Pennsylvania researchers While traffic fatalities soared across the city during that period due in part to pandemic-related changes in driving behavior on Roosevelt Boulevard they fell the evaluation determined Philadelphia as a whole continues to see a high rate of traffic deaths compared to before the pandemic but the number appears to be declining Sixty-five people have died in traffic crashes so far in with at least five deaths on or near Broad Street according to city details In there were deaths including by this date last year Two years ago state legislators approved a bill making the Boulevard cameras permanent and providing for the cameras in additional locations Camera friendly City executives and councilmembers at the launch event Wednesday acknowledged specific criticism of speed cameras and concerns in the surrounding neighborhoods and repeatedly cited the findings of the Roosevelt Boulevard assessment to defend the initiative I guarantee you someone somewhere somehow is going to say that it won t matter that it won t make a difference Parker communicated those attending the event on the north apron of City Hall I just want you to be able to very calmly and succinctly give them the facts Certain opponents have argued that cameras are punitive and regressive creating profit-driven speed traps that arbitrarily increase the cost of driving Councilmember Jeffery Young who has expressed doubts about putting speed cameras in school zones noted that a multitude of of the new North Broad cameras are in his th councilmanic district Particular of these communities where these cameras are placed are specific of the most of challenged and impoverished communities in our city So we don t want the residents to look at this as a tax on you commented Young who chairs council s Committee on Streets and Services But we need you to understand that this is just a safety measure to ensure that all residents in the city of Philadelphia can live and live freely Speed cameras will be activated on Monday Sept at intersections on Broad Street in Philadelphia OTIS The committee will examine camera facts during the -day grace period to see where speeders are being detected and to make sure the law is fair and equitable for all communities he revealed These can be a few issues that communities may not understand at first But with all change come selected growing pains he disclosed Staffers at the Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems OTIS noted that the Streets Department has been making changes on Broad over the past year to prepare for the activation of the camera system PennDOT required a review of the speed limits along Broad which led the city to lower the limit from mph in parts of North Philly last year and make it a uniform mph along bulk of the road That gave drivers a few time to get used to the lower speed they announced The only remaining exception is a stretch near the South Philadelphia stadium complex where it is mph Parker noted The city also fabricated and installed new speed limit signs along Broad Street s -mile length along with pavement markings indicating the limit Chosen of the ticket revenue goes to the PPA for operating expenses including for staff to review footage before citations are issued but majority goes to PennDOT Those funds are distributed to cities and towns for other traffic safety projects with priority for the municipalities where cameras are located The cameras are at the following intersections Old York Road N Broad Street N Broad Street N Broad Street N Broad Street N Broad Street N Broad Street N Broad Street N Broad Street N Broad Street S Broad Street S Broad Street S Broad Street S Broad Street S Broad Street PlanPhilly reporter Aaron Moselle contributed to this article The post Smile You re on camera Broad Street drivers appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY