Louisville councilman makes push for automated speed cameras along residential city streets

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville Metro councilman testified Tuesday in Frankfort for the need for automated speed and red light cameras on residential streets around the city.

Councilman Dan Seum Jr., R-13, sat before the Kentucky General Assembly’s Interim Joint Committee on Transportation to advocate for speed cameras in certain residential areas of Louisville that see frequent speeders. One of the roads he mentioned, which sits in his district, is Mount Holly Road in Fairdale.

Seum said Louisville Metro Police recently set up radar detection signals to measure speeders in the area, and, in a two-week stretch, there were people monitored going 94 mph in a 35 mph zone. And, with a police force short hundreds of officers, Seum thinks this might be the best way to deter speeds he said are unacceptable in areas of the city with sidewalks, mailboxes and pedestrians lining the roads.

"If we can monitor that and ticket them and deter that and save some lives, then it is worth it," he told WDRB News.

To do so, however, would require a change in state law.

Seum said he's hopeful lawmakers in the GOP-controlled General Assembly will take up legislation when they convene next January. Previous efforts there have failed to gain traction, including a bill introduced by Democrats in 2023 that was never assigned to a committee.

Charles Warren, who lives off the stretch Mount Holly Road that was recently measured, said it's a big problem near his home.

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"I worry every morning about people up here waiting for the school buses and stuff, because they don't care," Warren said Tuesday. "I see people riding horses. I see people on bicycles and stuff, and you are scared to death that somebody is going to fly up through here and hit one of them or something."

Seum was joined Tuesday in Frankfort by Claire Yates, transportation planner for Louisville Metro Public Works. The cameras they advocated for would be removable and could be placed on areas with sharp turns and long stretches where people tend to speed. These are not the same as Flock cameras, which have a different data tracking system. These would strictly monitor speed.

The driver would get a citation, but it would not be sent to DMV or insurance. Therefore, no points would go against their license.

"I think that is the only alternative we have right now with our police shortage," Seum said.

The city has taken up a renewed effort to combat speeding and fatal crashes on its roads. Mayor Craig Greenberg's administration oversees a transportation safety initiative called Vision Zero, which aims to eliminate traffic deaths on city streets by 2050. Converting one-way streets to handle traffic in both directions is also one of its' key strategies. According to Vision Zero's Louisville Dashboard, since the start of the year, Louisville has had 62 deaths on public roads. And that's excluding crashes on interstates.

A study conducted earlier this year in a joint effort by Louisville Metro Government and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and prepared by Palmer Engineering included data for all public streets and roadways in Jefferson County except for Interstates 64, 71, 264 and 265. The study logged every crash from Jan. 1, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2022, only excluding those that occurred in parking lots, which made up just 5.3% of those reported county-wide, the study said.

The most dangerous stretch of road in Jefferson County, the study showed, was Broadway from 22nd Street to Baxter Avenue. The third-most dangerous stretch was Broadway from from 22nd Street to 35th Street.

Seventeen of the 20 most dangerous stretches of roadway in Jefferson County are owned by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Of the 53 "High Injury Network" routes ranked by the study, 85% of the 152.5 miles of roadway are state-owned. Other corridors of concern include South 7th Street between Algonquin Parkway and South 9th Street as well as Bardstown Road between Captain Place and Beulah Church Road.

And speed humps installed earlier this year in the Newburg neighborhood are making a "big difference," one resident said in March.

Seum said Tuesday his proposal for the speed cameras is a bipartisan one with approval from the mayor's office. But he still knows it's somewhat of a longshot.

"It's going to be an uphill battle but it is a battle that we need to go, because I don't know any other alternative," he said. "We do not have the officers to patrol this and slow these people down."

The money from speeding tickets would go to the state and often takes three to fives years to get back to the county, Seum said.

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