More than 1 in 4 traffic fatalities occur in speed-
related crashes, according to government data.
The Federal Highway Administration says speed
cameras can reduce the number of injury crashes
by nearly 50%.
“Automated speed enforcement, if deployed
equitably and applied appropriately to roads with
the greatest risk of harm due to speeding, can
provide significant safety benefits and save lives,”
according to the Transportation Department’s
safety strategy released last week.
The department said that under the previous
five-year transportation bill, states were mostly
confined to spending highway safety money
for hard infrastructure projects, such as building
sidewalks; use of federal money for speed
cameras was prohibited except in school zones.
Now, under Biden’s new law, states have the
option to use up to 10% of the $15.6 billion
in total highway safety money available over
five years for specified non-infrastructure
programs, such as public awareness campaigns,
automated enforcement of traffic safety laws
and measures to protect children walking and
bicycling to school.
About $3 billion of the highway safety money
was distributed to states in December.
At a press event Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron
DeSantis blasted Biden’s infrastructure bill as
wasteful even as he said his state welcomed
additional federal transportation dollars.
“They’re spending $15 billion on speed cameras
to be able to catch people speeding. I mean, I’m
sorry. I don’t want that. That’s bringing us even
more surveillance,” the Republican said. “Like we
need more surveillance in our society right now,”
he quipped.