By Steve Bell
Kansas City, MO – The matter of cameras at traffic lights in Kansas City is now in the hands of the City Council. After studying the matter, the mayor's task force gave the traffic cams a favorable report yesterday. Chairman Karl Zobrist said the majority of the citizens who came to the public hearings support the cameras.
Zobrist:
"There was definite support for the concept. We had a number of people who had either been victims of red light runnings or who had friends who had been involved in them and saying, you know, if you can save one life with a program such as this it ought to be strongly considered.
The most common opposition was that the program would not be structured fairly of that it would only be implemented to generate revenue for the city. We agreed with those critics and we saud that any program that does come into being has to have public safety as its primary objective, not simply the raising of money."
Consultant Steve Glorioso said the cameras will prevent accidents.
Glorioso:
"After this gets going you won't really know what intersections, even with signs, because there are cameras around everywhere."
Mayor Barnes said she will set the wheels in motion to draft an ordinance proposal, probably for cameras at 50 intersections