SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Red light cameras are being installed in the City of Syracuse as part of a plan to make school zones safer.
CNY Central looked at the 36 locations of these cameras and noticed some weren’t even close to schools.
The State Department of Transportation defines a school zone as being a quarter-mile around the entrance or exit to a school. The city officials sent CNY Central a list of the zones, titled, “School Zone Red Light Cameras.”
One of the cameras on East Genesee and Croly Street is three-quarters of a mile away from a red light camera.
The Deputy Mayor of the City of Syracuse said the reasoning is to prepare the driver who may be entering a school zone soon.
The question remains, how far do drivers need to be prepared?
Mayor Ben Walsh and Deputy Mayor Owens said the focus is on streets near schools.
“It is not that we’re doing red light cameras all over the city,” said Owens. “We are picking routes that are really highly trafficked for a school area.”
According to Mayor Walsh, expansion of the camera locations is possible. Right now, the city is focused on the current 36 locations.
“The specific item on the Common Council agenda right now is related to essentially permitting some of these new infrastructures to be in the right of way, because it’s being maintained by the vendor,” said Mayor Walsh.
This means the cameras can go up on any poles installed by the vendor, Jenoptik, city-owned light poles or traffic signal poles.
The cameras will be up and running by Sept 3.
For a list of locations for all of the red light cameras, follow this link.