PINE LAWN, MO (KTVI)–Starting Wednesday, a new law is cracking down on how much money North County communities can collect from speed camera tickets.
A group of North County clergy pushed for this new law but they argue it’s still not enough.
These ministers are frustrated and angry. That’s why they agreed to sit down and talk candidly about what they feel is unfair.
They’re on a crusade to either get rid of speed cameras all together or make sure they’re also set up in other parts of St. Louis County, not just small North County municipalities that are mostly African American and low income.
Reverend BT Rice is with the St. Louis County NAACP. His office is seeing a dramatic increase in the number of calls and letters from people who getting speed camera tickets, many of them from Pine Lawn seen standing inlong line for hours to either pay their ticket or have a warrant for their arrest.
Reverend Rice and his fellow clergy contend towns like Cool Valley and Pine Lawn get half of their operating budgets from speed camera ticketsand it is the only way they can stay afloat. The limit was 35 percent, now it’s 30 percent.
Some municipalities only use their speed cameras for a few hours and only in school zones.
They contend people are driving slower which saves lives.
In Bel Ridge for example, they went from giving 30 to 40 tickets a day a year ago with their red-flex speed camera on 170 to less than ten because drivers fear getting a ticket.
New law could have big impact on speed cameras in St. Louis
