Baltimore's New Effort To Keep Big Rigs Off Residential Streets
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Speed and red light cameras have been used for years in Baltimore, but now a new camera is being added to catch huge trucks rolling down restricted residential streets.
"The very large trucks are very, very heavy," said Dave Phoebus, vice president of the Butcher's Hill Association. "They run on a single lane road. The houses shake and vibrate. It's unsafe for pedestrians and the cars that park there."
"The truck traffic is zooming up and down the street," said Natalie Thomas, with the zion christian academy. "It's presenting a tremendous hazard to the children."
Six new cameras designed to catch truck drivers who violate size and weight limits on residential streets in southeast Baltimore are being installed. Most of the trucks work the port area.
The cameras carry the potential for significant fines.
"They can pay $240 on a first offense," said Baltimore City Councilman Zeke Cohen. "The message we're trying to send is these are residential communities and we expect them to be treated as such."
The cameras just might do that.
Shirley Gregory used to regularly count 50 trucks a day using her street in the St. Helena neighborhood. After a camera went in, she says "it went down from 50 to three in one week."
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