I-Team: CT DOT says they won’t pause approvals for speed cameras after lawmaker request 

HARTFORD, Conn. (WFSB) - Speed cameras are here to stay. The CT Department of Transportation says it will not stop approving new speed camera proposals.

We first told you last week, two Republican state senators had asked the department to put a pause on the program, after our I-Team investigation.

In a letter sent to Senators Stephen Harding and Tony Hwang, the DOT Commissioner laid out a few reasons why the program will continue.

They don’t believe they have the legal right to stop approving the cameras. The DOT also says early data shows the cameras are helping keep drivers safe.

An I-Team investigation in June questioned the data some municipalities were sending to the DOT in their speed camera plans.

The plans detail where those municipalities want to put the cameras and why. In Washington’s plan, for example, we found some of the data submitted was ten years old, and covered more than just the Washington area.

After Senator Harding watched our story, he spoke at length with Patricia Peiffer, a Litchfield resident and research analyst, whom we interviewed in our investigation about concerns over missing and inflated data she feels are in many municipal plans. Peiffer feels there’s a disconnect between what’s required in the statute and what’s reviewed by DOT.

Senator Stephen Harding, who spoke with us last week, had concerns, saying “There was supposed to be a level of review on their part before approving this to ensure that, again, this was being done not for revenue purposes, but in a roadway where there was glaring safety issues or a continued pattern of speeding.”

Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto says that’s exactly what his team is doing.

The Commissioner told us in our original interview months ago, DOT engineers look at more recent numbers than the ones we showed him. In his letter to Senators Harding and Hwang, he says they have data available through 2024.

Commissioner Eucalitto went on say that DOT’s approval process is rigorous, and engineers do in-depth reviews of each proposed location before approval.

He told the senators the ten-year data we saw in the plan, was part of a 2019 safety action plan; he says the town needed to include in its proposal.

The Commissioner told us the biggest concerns the DOT have, and what they focus on, are where crashes are happening, and speeds at the proposed locations.

Washington’s plan showed that most drivers exceeded the speed limit at proposed locations, by 15 to 20 mph.

The Commissioner noted in his letter; they are already getting positive results from several municipalities, seeing “meaningful reductions in vehicle speeds and other positive safety outcomes.”

Washington’s cameras have been up for 14 months. State law requires municipalities to submit a status report on the cameras after 18 months.

We also found in our original investigation, the company that installs and runs the cameras, helped create some of the municipal plans.

Senator Harding says he feels that’s a conflict of interest. The DOT told us it’s allowed, and the Commissioner compared it to how the DOT uses consultants, when we asked him during our original interview. State statute is silent on whether a vendor can write the plan.

Senator Harding is looking at legislative changes in 2027; the commissioner says they’d want to be a part of the conversation.

The Commissioner cautioned against taking away local control. Right now, municipalities are required to hold public hearings, and do a vote on allowing speed cameras, before creating their plan.