ON THE RADAR?
Local police may get more tools to catch speeders
Pennsylvania lawmakers are once again mulling over whether to allow local police departments to use radar guns to nab speeders.
Legislation sponsored by state Sen. Greg Rothman, R-34th Dist., permitting local police in Pennsylvania to use radar for speed enforcement was approved unanimously today by the Senate Transportation Committee. Pennsylvania is the only state in the country that prohibits local police from being equipped with speedenforcement radar.
“We know that most crash fatalities are the result of excessive speed, with many of those deaths occurring on local roads where we live,” Rothman said. “Our police officers do everything possible to keep our communities safe, but they do not have all the tools they need to do the job effectively.”
Borough of Kennett Square Police Chief William Holdsworth said he backs the proposal to allow local police to use radar guns.
“Any method we can use that
we can prove statistically is accurate is beneficial to reducing speeding, which is a huge problem in Pennsylvania,” the chief said.
Lt. Josh Lee of the West Chester Police Department also supports municipal radar use.
“Radar has proven to be the most accurate of the speed timing devices and would be a valuable tool to reduce speed related traffic fatalities and increase highway safety,” Lee said.
East Bradford resident Steve Cottrel said the suggested use is OK with him.
“It’s no problem,” he said, “as long as it’s not entrapment.
“I don’t speed and it doesn’t bother me.”
Senate Bill 459 would permit local radar as an optional speed enforcement tool for municipalities, who would need to enact an ordinance prior to deploying its use. The bill also has built-in protections to ensure radar will not be misused for revenue generation and includes other goodgovernment safeguards, such as:
• Revenue collected through local radar speed enforcement may not exceed the previous year’s speed enforcement revenue by more than 1%.
• Municipalities that choose to