MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -
One of 96 recommendations made by a state commission looking to improve funding for Pennsylvania's long-overlooked roads, bridges, and mass transit systems has raised a red flag with law enforcement officials.
The Transportation Funding Advisory Commission in a report last week suggested traffic light cameras - those which photograph the license plates of drivers who run red lights - be allowed in other municipalities across the state. The cameras currently are permitted only in Philadelphia.
Richard Hammon, superintendent of the Silver Spring Township Police Department, said he worries about revenue the cameras would create; like in the 1960's when radar was legalized for speed enforcement by state police, but not local officers.
"The principal argument that has always been used is that municipalities will use it as a money making scheme," Hammon said of radar enforcement. "If you don't want law enforcement to be generating money, there's a problem with that in my mind anyway."
State Rep. Glen Grell, R-Cumberland, agrees.
"I fully support the chief's observation that it's an inconsistent argument that it's OK to use technology to generate funding at the state level, but its not OK if its used to generate some funding at the local level," Grell said.
PennDOT's position is that it's a matter of safety, not money.
"It is not intended to be a funding source for infrastructure, it is meant to make intersections safer," PennDOT spokesman Dennis Buterbaugh said. "If there are excess funds, those funds are used to make other areas safer in the state."
