Legislators: Speed Cameras Could Save Lives On Roosevelt Boulevard
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - There was emotional testimony Friday at a state house transportation committee hearing on whether Pennsylvania should place speed cameras on the Roosevelt Boulevard.
The cameras are seen as a way to improve safety on the notoriously dangerous road.
Angie Dellavella will never forget the night a green pick-up truck sped past her, like a flash, on Roosevelt Boulevard....
"I then watched as a gentleman who was standing on the corner waiting to cross the Boulevard was thrown into the air."
He was one of dozens of fatalities on the Boulevard in the last several years, a tragedy Representative John Taylor believes could be avoided if the state installed speed cameras along the road:
"We basically are interested in slowing people down."
Taylor held the hearing in City Hall to generate support for his bill, allowing cameras to photograph speeding cars. Drivers would receive tickets in the mail.
Councilman David Oh is concerned about the bill's provision that all proceeds would be kept by the state:
"We have to fight a perception in the public that this is more about money than it is about saving lives."
The bill would have to pass in the ten days remaining on the legislative calendar or be re-introduced next year.
