The St. Louis traffic camera program has caught some serious violators.
A recent analysis by the St. Charles Traffic Enforcement Division found that there are over 1,300 cameras on the city’s streets that have been used on a daily basis in violation of the city code.
It is a big problem, said Deputy Director of Operations for the St Louis Traffic Enforcement, Ryan Smith.
“When you have people who are driving on the street who are breaking the law, it’s very hard to do a thorough analysis of whether or not they are violating the law,” Smith said.
“So, when you have someone who has been caught violating the traffic laws, it puts the city at risk.”
St. Louis police said it has collected over 6,000 tickets since the program was started in February of 2017.
The city is working on a pilot program that will start this summer to make sure the city has the resources to keep the cameras up and running.
Smith said it would cost around $40,000 per day to run the system and that the city could run the cameras for a little over a year.
“We’ve got to find the right balance between the public safety, security and privacy concerns,” Smith explained.
St. Charles Police said they will start rolling out the cameras on a trial basis starting in June.