Philadelphia City Council Taking Closer Look At Red-Light Cameras At Northeast Philly Intersection After CBS3 Report
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- An Eyewitness News investigation is getting results. Philadelphia city councilmembers are now taking a closer look at the city's red-light cameras after CBS3 exposed a state report that shows big problems at an intersection in Northeast Philadelphia.
The state report says, at most intersections in Philadelphia, red-light cameras are decreasing injuries and crashes. But at one intersection, that is not the case.
Some in City Council now want to make changes.
Red-light cameras are supposed to make streets safer. But a 2017 study by the state Transportation Advisory Committee shows at Roosevelt Boulevard and Red Lion Road, injuries in crashes have increased by more than 70% at the intersection.
Councilmember-at-large Isaiah Thomas chairs the city's Streets and Services Committee.
"We have to a better job of assessing things once we put them in place," Thomas said.
The report also suggests red-light cameras are "not the solution to that intersection's safety challenges and other measures are required."
Scott Petri is the executive of the Philadelphia Parking Authority, which manages the city's red-light cameras. He says the PPA was never told to remove the cameras at the Boulevard and Red Lion Road, so that's one reason why they are still operating today.
But Councilman David Oh reads the study a different way.
"It's pretty clear the red-light cameras do not address the safety challenges," Oh said.
Meanwhile, other critics like a watchdog nonprofit called PayUpPPA, are also not surprised by the agency's response.
"This has been a trend within the Philadelphia Parking Authority leadership, where information is presented to them that is sometimes at odds with their own analysis and they choose to ignore it," PayUpPPA spokesperson Eric Rosso said.
And by not following the report's recommendation, the city could make itself open to litigation, says injury attorney Jordan Strokovsky.
"If under these circumstances, the red-light cameras actually may have contributed to that accident," Strokovsky said.
Thomas now plans to have the city's Streets and Services Committee take a closer look at red-light cameras at Roosevelt Boulevard and Red Lion Road.