New Haven has started issuing $50 fines to drivers caught by its new network of traffic cameras, after a one-month warning period during which the city recorded nearly 6,300 violations across seven camera locations. The grace period gave drivers a chance to adjust before the automated system began writing real citations for running red lights and speeding through some of the city's busiest intersections.
According to WFSB, the speed camera near James Hillhouse High School on Sherman Parkway flagged more than 4,200 drivers traveling at least 10 mph above the posted limit over 30 days. The station also reported that the Quinnipiac Avenue and East Grand Avenue intersection in Fair Haven Heights logged 859 red-light violations, while the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Church Street intersection downtown recorded more than 400, and the Prospect Street and Highland Street intersection on Prospect Hill saw more than 350.
A separate accounting from the New Haven Independent covering a shorter stretch of the warning period, Sept. 15 through Oct. 2, put the citywide total at roughly 2,700 violations, including 673 red-light infractions and 1,368 speed infractions on Sherman Parkway alone, with another 709 cases still awaiting city review at the time. The Independent reported that city employees review every camera-recorded violation before a warning or citation goes out, and that the Sherman Parkway camera is built to catch vehicles going more than 10 mph over the limit, meaning at least 35 mph in that 25-mph zone.
How Many Cameras Are Actually Running
Accounts of the camera count itself differ. WFSB's reporting on the fines describes six red-light cameras positioned throughout the city alongside the Sherman Parkway speed camera, while the Independent has separately described the active system as red-light cameras in six locations plus the one speed camera. NBC Connecticut, however, reported in September that New Haven had seven red-light cameras at marked intersections plus the speed camera across from Hillhouse High School. The city has consistently said seven total locations were chosen using crash data and history, including school and pedestrian safety zones.
Now that the warning period has ended, first offenses carry a $50 fine and any subsequent offense carries a $75 fine, per a statement from the City of New Haven. New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said the city has received many complaints over the years about dangerous driving and has lost residents to it, and he framed the program as aimed at improving safe driving and pedestrian safety rather than generating revenue.
More Cameras Could Be Coming
New Haven officials plan to add more automated traffic cameras across the city. The state has approved 15 Automated Traffic Enforcement Safety Device locations in New Haven in total, with the city working to set up red-light and speed cameras at eight additional approved locations beyond the seven already active, the Independent has reported separately. That expanded 15-site plan, which includes 11 red-light cameras and four speed cameras, followed state regulators rejecting or partially rejecting four of the city's originally proposed speed-camera sites because they did not demonstrate sufficient speeding-related issues, according to the Connecticut Mirror.
Grady Martin, who bikes across New Haven daily, said drivers frequently run red lights on Orange Street, which forces cyclists to stay alert. His account echoes the kind of intersection-level risk the camera program is meant to target, even as the city works through installing the rest of its approved devices.
New Haven Is Not Alone
New Haven's rollout comes amid a broader statewide trend. Bristol became the latest Connecticut city to approve red-light cameras after its council voted 6-1 on Oct. 13, according to the Hartford Courant. Bristol officials cited more than 35 high-crash intersections identified across the city, along with 90 serious injuries and 20 fatalities from preventable traffic crashes over the prior three years, as justification for the new ordinance. New Haven is among a growing list of Connecticut municipalities, including Hamden, Hartford, Milford and New Britain, that have approved red-light camera use, the Courant reported.
