MA Traffic Camera Law Would Target Speeders, Red-Light Runners

One year after a decade-long campaign to overturn a state statute prohibiting school bus camera footage usage to enforce the law against not stopping for a bus on-loading and discharging students was ultimately successful, there is a new push to allow cities and towns to install automated traffic cameras to enforce speeding and red-light running violations as well.

The bill, sponsored by State Rep. Orlando Ramos of Springfield, would cap fines at $150.

Ramos told Masslive.com that the expanded law is not designed to generate revenue but that "we are simply trying to keep the road safe."

• Peabody, Salem Bus Camera Safety Campaign Moves Law To Governor's Desk
• Peabody School Bus Stop Safety Data Shows Rampant Driver Violations

The school bus camera push became law across the state after sustained efforts in Peabody and Salem to jump-start the long-stalled legislation.

S.T.O.P the Operator Passing founder Maria Scheri and Peabody school and city officials began their intensified efforts to advocate for a law allowing drivers to be cited based on camera evidence of a violation after multiple incidents involving students who were injured early in the 2022 school year.

Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt formed a School Safety Task Force, of which Scheri was named the co-chair, and the city began a BusPatrol pilot program to collect data on how rampant the violations actually were.

A 2024 release of data from a BusPatrol camera pilot program in Peabody revealed that the company recorded 3,412 vehicles failing to stop for 10 camera-equipped buses that were stopped for students between Sept. 5, 2023, and May 9, 2024.

• Salem Joins Peabody In School Bus Safety Push Using Cameras

Salem joined the push in 2023 with data collected in that neighboring North Shore city showing similar results.

Scheri advocated for the law's passage throughout the years-long process — holding information sessions at the Northshore Mall and other regional events at the start of new school years, educating drivers unaware of the law requiring them to stop for buses about its existence, and pushing for the ability to effectively punish those who disobeyed it.

She told Patch in 2024 that, based on the BusPatrol data collected during the pilot program, concerned parents across the state had to "speak up to hold drivers accountable."

But those who opposed the law cited privacy concerns and predictions that once cameras were used to enforce some traffic violations — instead of a police officer having to witness the violation — that would be the "slippery slope" of cameras used to monitor drivers for a wide range of infractions at all times of the day and night.

Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo said in 2024 that Salem's efforts to join Peabody in the camera pilot program were intended to invoke statewide action to "give communities more flexibility in using these tools for enforcement, not just studies."

• Salem City Council Renews Expanded Camera Traffic Law Enforcement Push

The Salem City Council last year pressed for a home-rule petition that would allow for camera enforcement of speeding in school zones, in addition to the law against not stopping for a bus while children get on or off.

Ramos told Masslive that since the cameras would be used to enforce civil infractions, not criminal ones, there are not the same constitutional concerns that might arise otherwise. He added that he, too, is "very concerned about government surveillance."

"Which is why I decided to file a bill because, if we're going to do it, we have to do it the right way," he said.