May 17, 2019
Drivers on Roosevelt Boulevard will soon have to watch their speed more closely if they want to avoid getting slapped with a fine.
Philadelphia City Council this week approved a bill that calls for the installation of seven to 11 speed cameras along an 11.75-mile stretch of the boulevard.
The measure, which has been under consideration for months, will implement the camera system along Roosevelt Boulevard between Ninth Street and the Philadelphia County Line.
PennDOT statistics show that stretch accounts for 8 percent of all fatal and severe injury crashes in Philadelphia. Roosevelt Boulevard, as a whole, was the site of 2,695 crashes between 2013-2017. There were 139 deaths or serious injuries during that span.
Once the cameras are installed, drivers will be given a 60-day grace period to adjust to the new penalties, receiving warning notices instead of fines. Warning signs will be posted in the vicinity of the cameras to warn motorists.
After 60 days, speed cameras will automatically take photos of any vehicles going 11 mph over the 45 mph speed limit. Drivers will receive fines in the mail.
Those traveling between 11-20 mph over the limit will be fined $100, while vehicles driving between 21 and 30 mph over the limit will be fined $125. Any vehicle traveling 31 mph or faster than the speed limit would be fined $150.
The speed camera program is intended to help Philadelphia reach its Vision Zero goals to improve road safety and drastically reduce the number of accidents on city streets.
“This is an invaluable step for Philadelphia to implement Vision Zero," said Sarah Clark Stuart, executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. "Countless lives will be saved with automated enforcement on Roosevelt Boulevard, and we applaud the Mayor and City Council for doing their part to make this precedent-setting safety measure possible.”
