NEW HAVEN — The city, members of the New Haven delegation and local safe street activists are making yet another run at state legislation that would allow it and other larger cities and towns to install traffic signal cameras to catch red light runners and mail them tickets.

Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and other supporters have pushed unsuccessfully for the legislation for the past seven years. In the 2011 legislative session, the bill made it farther than ever before, making it out of two committees before dying in judiciary.

State Sen. Martin Looney, D-New Haven, believed this year might be the year.

The New Haven Register asked the community for comments on the idea.

“This is the most practical way to address the red light running and dangerous driving in New Haven,” said East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker.

To be certain, there are supporters and detractors on both sides of the topic.

A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a non-profit funded by auto insurers, compared large cities with red light cameras to those without and concluded the devices reduced the fatal red light running crash rate by 24 percent.

DeStefano and other supporters were careful to cast the proposal as a public safety question, not as a revenue generator for the city. There were 5,644 accidents in the city last year and eight fatalities. Consistent enforcement of traffic laws has been shown to significantly decrease traffic violations, DeStefano argued, and red light cameras would assist an already shortstaffed Police Department in that enforcement effort.

Opponents argue the red light systems are simply cash cows that generate new streams of revenue for financially strapped municipalities — and do little or nothing to improve safety.

For original, complete article and video from the New Haven Register click here.