Speed-detection cameras could be coming to stretch of Roosevelt Boulevard

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- By most appraisals, the posting of red light cameras on Roosevelt Boulevard has made this treacherous stretch of road much safer, but now activists want to take it a step further: speed detection cameras along a roughly 12-mile stretch of the boulevard every two miles.

Any vehicle exceeding the speed limit would get a $150 ticket for the first offense.

Out of every 100 traffic fatalities each year in Philadelphia, 10 percent happen here on the Roosevelt Boulevard.

"Probably the single most important measure that Philadelphia can do to save people in traffic is putting these speed cameras up," said Sarah Clark Stuart, of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. "We think it'll save maybe a half dozen lives a year."

After a 5-year struggle in the Pennsylvania statehouse, closer than ever is a measure that would authorize speed cameras for Philadelphia on the Boulevard and other local areas where vulnerable highway workers are active.

People who cross the Roosevelt Boulevard each day say bring on the 9 camera plan.

"The traffic coming down here comes down like it's a speedway, and if you're coming across you can't go unless you know you have enough time to make it," said Michelle Meyers of northeast Philadelphia. "It takes at least two lights to get across the street and if they come flying down you're done."

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