This story is part of CT Mirror Explains, an ongoing effort to distill our wide-ranging reporting into a "what you need to know" format and provide practical information to our readers.
Editor’s Note: This article is part of CT Mirror’s Spanish-language news coverage developed in partnership with Identidad Latina Multimedia.
After a sharp rise in car crash fatalities in Connecticut last year, the state legislature authorized the Department of Transportation to launch an automated red light and speed violation traffic camera system in the state.
The DOT was tasked with developing guidance for municipalities that choose to apply to the program, and it released that guidance this month.
Here’s what to know.
What will the red light and traffic cameras capture?
The cameras will track traffic violations. While red light cameras track people who run red lights, speed cameras monitor and capture evidence of cars that exceed the posted speed limit by 10 or more miles per hour.
In both of these cases, the state has authorized municipalities to issue traffic citations to drivers without a police officer witnessing and issuing the ticket.
For the first 30 days after the installation of a traffic or red light camera, only a written warning will be issued for violations. After 30 days, the fine cannot exceed $50 for the first offense and $75 for the second or subsequent offenses.
Fines will be a violation of a municipality’s ordinance, which means no points will be deducted from someone’s license.
Where can municipalities put them?
The state guidance currently mandates that red light cameras can only be installed at intersections that have seen at least two crashes involving a driver that ran a red light over a three-year period. Speeding cameras, meanwhile, can go in school zones, so-called “pedestrian safety zones,” and other locations with a lot of foot or bicycle traffic, like roadways near business districts and public parks.
A municipality cannot install more than two cameras in a qualified census tract, an area where more than 50 percent of people make 60 percent or less of the area’s median gross income.
The DOT will ensure that municipalities that border a town where these qualified census tracts make up at least 55 percent of its census tracts — currently, Bridgeport, Hartford, New Britain, New Haven, New London and Windham — are not installing cameras too close to the boundaries between the two towns.
A municipality that installs these cameras must both post signage notifying drivers of the camera’s presence, and it must also notify online map operators like Apple or Google Maps that the cameras are present.
Is there a process municipalities have to follow to use these cameras?
They must submit a plan to the state’s Department of Transportation detailing the need for the cameras, which the DOT must sign off on before the cameras are installed.
Municipalities will also be required to hold open forums for people to contribute to the decisions that are made. Local legislative boards will also have to approve the usage of red light and traffic cameras and the specific placements and plans for cameras.
Municipalities will also have to submit annual reports to the state about the number of incidents that the cameras captured, and the state will make a decision to renew the approval for the cameras at the end of each three-year period.
Which municipalities have begun the process of implementing traffic cameras?
So far, the only major city in Connecticut to present plans to their local board of representatives is Stamford. Their transportation department presented to its Board of Representatives a plan to install cameras in school zones over the next one to three years in November.
New Haven and Hartford mayoral spokespeople told The Connecticut Mirror that their cities planned on applying to the program, but that they have not finalized the details of their projects.
West Hartford has also received funds from the bill that authorized red light and speed cameras in Connecticut to test a pilot program for the cameras.
Why did the state legislature authorize the usage of these cameras?
Connecticut saw its deadliest year for car crashes in 2022 — an estimated 368 people died in car crashes in the state, which is the first time the state has recorded an average of more than one traffic fatality per day.
[RELATED: 2022 was the deadliest year for car crashes in Connecticut]
The state legislature authorized the usage of the cameras during the 2022 legislative sessions due to the uptick in rash driving and car crashes in the state.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the number of people who have died in car crashes nationwide increased 18% from 2019 to 2021.
Speeding-related fatalities increased by 17% from 2019 to 2020 and 13% from 2011 to 2020, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Do other states have these cameras?
Yes.
Currently, 23 other states use similar cameras. According to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, cities that removed red light cameras had a 30% higher fatal red-light-running car crash rate and a 16% increase in fatal car crashes compared to towns that continued to use red-light cameras.