City of Pittsburgh launches Automated Red-Light Enforcement program at two intersections
PITTSBURGH —
Drivers who run a red light at two Pittsburgh intersections will be caught on camera.
On Wednesday, the city of Pittsburgh announced red-light cameras were live at the intersections of North Dallas and Penn Avenues and Saw Mill Run Boulevard and Woodruff Street as part of the Automated Red-Light Enforcement program.
“Whether it’s a vehicle, a pedestrian, a bicyclist, or you’re using our transit system, we want to ensure our streets are as safe as possible,” Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor said at a news conference Wednesday.
From 2019-2023, the mayor said Pittsburgh had 759 crashes involving people running red lights. Seven of those were fatal.
The new cameras are designed to reduce reckless driving and crashes at high-risk intersections.
“All these years that we’ve lived here, there has been multiple accidents at this intersection,” said Point Breeze resident Rohan Ganguli.
Ganguli lives near the North Dallas and Penn Avenues intersection and said he has been pushing for the cameras ever since becoming the victim of a hit-and-run.
“About a year and a half ago, I was crossing Penn Avenue, with the pedestrian light on, and I was hit by a car that was turning into Penn Avenue,” Ganguli told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 Reporter Jordan Cioppa.
Ganguli said he was hospitalized with several injuries before having to endure a long recovery process.
While some like Ganguli are in support of the cameras, others feared their privacy would be at risk.
“I think that we are constantly, in this society, already being surveilled, and I don’t know how that data is being used, where that data goes,” Tziporah Feldman of Edgewood said.
The recordings will be reviewed by Pittsburgh police, the mayor said.
According to the city website, the recordings will be destroyed “within thirty (30) days of final disposition of any recorded event.”
Cameras will be rolled out at four more locations this year, including Anderson Street and East General Robinson Street, South Negley Avenue and Fifth Avenue, Chateau Street and West End Bridge, in addition to Browns Hill Road and Parkview Boulevard.
Once the program is fully implemented, O’Connor said there will be cameras at 21 locations in the city.
A 60-day warning period was in effect at the first two intersections. Starting on Oct. 11, $100 citations will be issued.
The additional four intersections will have a 30-day warning period. Violators will have 30 days to pay or appeal a citation.