KENT—The much-discussed implementation traffic safety cameras went down to a resounding defeat Tuesday, Jan. 7, when townspeople voted 391 to 104 against their use.
Discussion about the proposal, pro and con, had rippled through the town since last summer when First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer first suggested it. The Board of Finance had authorized an expenditure of up to $46,000 to purchase them if the item passed at referendum.
A hearing held Nov. 22 revealed a deep schism in townspeople’s opinions.
The proposal grew out of concerns about unsafe vehicular traffic in the congested center of town. Many cars traveling down busy Route 7 or along Route 341 enter the town at unsafe speeds and the traffic safety cameras were seen as a way to motivate drivers to slow down.
Two cameras would have been placed in the 35 mph zones on Route 7 at either end of the village, with Connecticut Department of Transportation approval of a plan based on speed data and other rules set by state legislation in 2023. The cameras could have been moved in the future if the state DOT approved the new placements. Cars exceeding the speed limit by 10 or more miles per hour would have received automated $50 tickets, plus $15 administrative fees.
Data collected by monitors in April indicated that 31,000 tickets would have been issued for speeding.
Lindenmayer was philosophical about the townspeople’s denial. He was laudatory about a community that turned out in numbers to vote on “a cold, blustery winter’s day.”
“The people decided, so off we go,” he said. His Plan B calls for “education, education, education.”
“We’ll focus on the areas where there are particular problems,” he said. Specifically, traffic controls on Elizabeth Street will be tightened. The narrow residential street is a popular shortcut for motorists wanting to avoid the traffic light at the intersection of routes 7 and 341.
“I live there so I see people speeding all the time,” he said, noting that children also walk along the narrow lane on their way to school. “The resident trooper stopped two people there in the past two days. We’ll see what we can do with that. If you are five minutes late for school, don’t make it 15 or 20 by getting a ticket.”
He said practical actions such as trimming bushes back at corners to heighten visibility will be undertaken and he expressed concern that the school board has never hired a new crossing guard to help children cross Route 341. “The kids are kind of on their own there,” he said.
Another Elizabeth Street problem is cars parking along its north side. “They are getting closer to the corner, and it makes it hard for traffic to pull in,” he observed. “We have to look at making that corner safer.”
He said he would call on the Troop L State Police to help with traffic controls outside of town.
“We’ll move on,” he said. Maybe we will open up the Street Safety Committee that was disbanded. Maybe they could let people comment on their ideas—see what they are thinking.”
He noted that other towns in the region are considering the cameras—Washington is in its first month with them installed—and that Kent residents can observe what it is like for those towns.
“They may feel differently about them later. For now, we are not going to pound away at it.”
