More than 80 percent of the people who responded to an online poll oppose the installation of speed cameras in Barrington. 

East Bay Media Group, the parent company for the Barrington Times, conducted the online poll last week, following a report shared with members of the Barrington Town Council. 

The report, offered by Barrington Police Chief Michael Correia, stemmed from a five-day monitoring experiment conducted by a speed camera company. The results of the study showed that more than half of the vehicles driving through school zones in Barrington exceeded the posted speed limit by at least 11 miles per hour. 

Following the police chief’s presentation at the March 3 council meeting, some residents spoke out against the speed cameras. 

Janine Wolf, Blaise Rein and Tom Rimoshytus shared various concerns about the speed cameras during the public comment portion of the council discussion.

Wolf questioned the need for speed cameras in Barrington, whether other less stringent speed-reducing measures could be implemented, and asked council members where the idea for speed cameras originated. Wolf cited emails sent by Representative Jason Knight (D-Dist. 67, Barrington and Warren) to state officials asking about speed cameras. 

Wolf also warned councilors that a private company hired to install the cameras would be motivated to issue tickets, and that it was conflict of interest. 

Rein called for other speed-reducing options instead of the cameras. He said the cameras would be another example of a private company collecting data about residents.

Rimoshytus also spoke during the March 3 council meeting. He told councilors that if they did decide to install the speed cameras, they needed to limit the hours of operation to the student drop-off and pick-up windows of time. He said leaving the cameras on from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. (which is the period of time used during the speed monitoring experiment) was “just a money-maker.” 

Members of the Barrington Town Council are expected to discuss and possibly vote on the speed cameras at their April 7 meeting.

Poll results 

The East Bay Media Group online poll garnered 144 responses: 116 people (82.8 percent) opposed speed cameras being installed in Barrington; 22 people (15.7 percent) supported the measure; and two (1.4 percent) said they needed more information before making a decision. 

Letters to the editor

Two Barrington residents turned to their keyboards in response to the speed camera issue. 

Lawrence P. Bowen, MD, in a letter to the editor in the Barrington Times, offered an alternative step to installing the cameras: “Given the differences in distractions surrounding various Barrington schools it would seem that the simplest, and perhaps best, approach might be to post attention getting flashing signs with prescribed notice and times of activation relevant to the particular school based on accident incident data rather than on blanket assumptions, however well intended.”

Wolf also filed a letter to the editor. She wrote, in part “We are already bathed in cameras across our state’s highways and cities. Now they want them in our towns. We aren’t doing our kids any favors by leaving them a world that is drenched in constant surveillance. It’s not what our relationship with our government is supposed to be. The drawbacks of more cameras far outweigh the supposed benefit.”