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SALEM, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Salem City Council sent a resolution to the State House to allow the city to implement automated traffic violation enforcement tools to improve road safety, especially in school zones and around school buses.
This has been an issue facing cities and towns around Mass., and state legislators have been discussing similar bills over the past few months. In October, state lawmakers filed a bill that would allow 10 municipalities in Mass. to implement a pilot program to install a limited number of cameras to monitor traffic violations.
Peabody, Mass., launched the pilot program in fall 2023, using cameras on 10 school buses. The data from the cameras showed over 850 driving violations of vehicles illegally passing the buses during drop-offs and pick-ups, reported Patch.com.
Salem was the latest Mass. town to take steps to move forward with laws around traffic camera monitoring. The new focus for Salem’s program would be around school zones and school buses due to safety concerns for children and students.
Residents told WBZ NewsRadio’s Chris Fama that they see vehicles illegally passing school buses in Salem often.
“[There have been] many instances where the bus stops, red lights are going off, and the car swerves around the school bus to get where they got to go as fast as they got to go.” The same person added that the cars that they have seen completely ignore the stop sign on the school bus.
This type of reckless driving, which endangers students and children, encouraged Salem City Councilors to renew an attempt to enforce traffic laws with camera monitoring. Specifically, the cameras would target school zones, school buses and dangerous intersections.
However, the use of traffic cameras in broader areas besides school zones concerned some residents.
“It’s kind of a double-edged knife. It cuts both ways. It’s good for the kids,” but it is a worry for privacy concerns for people in general, one person said.
“If they had them on traffic signals and so forth, it would be invasive," expressed another Salem resident. A different resident agreed with that. “It could cause a lot of trouble,” they commented.
“I don’t trust it. It’s just more ‘being watched’ everywhere you go. I’m against it," said one person in Salem. They added that they were concerned that the camera monitoring system “would be exploited” in certain areas, but agreed that having cameras would be a good plan “for the school buses, definitely.”
Another person in Salem also showed their support for potential school bus traffic cameras. “If they had them in the back of school buses, and they nabbed some of these perpetrators, I think it would be a great idea.”
WBZ's Chris Fama (CFamaWBZ) reports.
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