It's a topic that was brought up during Tuesday's Buffalo Common Council meeting: Should the City of Buffalo have red-light cameras?
A resolution was passed to have the Buffalo Police Department conduct a study, and look into the use of red-light cameras.
"Especially with the two fatalities I want to see this happen I'm hopeful," said Council Member Rasheed Wyatt. "If we don't have it city-wide but in certain areas that we work with the data."
Wyatt is hoping the cameras could help in hit-and-run investigations, like two recent hit-and-runs in Buffalo. It was July 4th when 7-year-old Tremont Seals was hit by a driver who took off. His mother says a week later, he is making some progress.
"Yesterday he opened his eyes," said Tameka Jones. "Today he was keeping his eyes open for minutes at a time."
Doctors tell Tremont's family that although he is making progress, the young boy still has significant brain damage, and a long road ahead.
"There are people in these communities being threatened by people driving irresponsibly," said Wyatt.
"I can barely cross the street looking both ways for fear of getting hit," explained Renata Toney. She lives on Newburgh Avenue and is part of the Arden/Newburgh Block Club. "We see people doing 50-60 mph up our streets. It endangers our children, our homes and for some reason we have the strong sense that people feel they have the liberty of speeding."
The cameras have been criticized in other cities like Rochester for being a "money grabbing" opportunity for a city, but Wyatt says it's all about public safety.
