Submitted by Michael R. Kennedy , Greenwich
The outrage over school zone speed cameras is as predictable as it is baffling. Greenwich maintains approximately 265 miles of public roads — and these cameras cover only a tiny sliver of that, in the specific zones where children are walking to and from school. The ask is not complicated: slow down for a few hundred feet. Apparently, for some drivers, that is a bridge too far.
There is, however, a silver lining to all the handwringing. The cameras have made two things crystal clear: first, that excessive speeding in this town is not an occasional lapse but a chronic, documented problem; and second, that an automated ticket is a far more effective deterrent than a patrol car. It turns out people speed less when consequences are certain rather than merely possible. Who knew?
So, to my fellow Greenwich drivers fuming over a speeding ticket received while barreling past an elementary school — perhaps direct that energy toward the gas pedal instead of the town council. The cameras aren’t the problem. The speeding is.
— A Greenwich resident, parent of young children, and personal injury lawyer who has seen firsthand what happens when a 4,000-pound vehicle meets a 60-pound child. Slow down.