ROCHESTER, N.Y. – News10NBC has been investigating the thousands of speeding tickets from the remote radar camera near a work zone on 490 downtown. The numbers are so outside the normal amount, Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean took them to the chair of the Transportation Committee in the State Senate.

On average, the New York State Department of Transportation tickets 182 drivers in work zones across the state every day. The DOT photo radar site on 490 at Alexander Street got 1,000 a day.

Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “How does that number strike you?”

Sen. Jeremy Cooney, chair of NYS Senate Transportation Committee: “What strikes me is we have a safety issue on our roads. That we have a lot of people who are either not seeing the signage or are moving at a speed which is unsafe to the workers in that space.”

The camera radars are attached to the roof of a state transportation SUV. The program is designed to slow down traffic at work zones. Two highway workers have been killed this year, one on I-90 in Henrietta in May and one on I-90 south of Buffalo two weeks ago.

When the DOT speed radar was stationed on 490 just east of downtown it ticketed 25,000 drivers in 26 days.

Berkeley Brean: “A thousand a day for 26 days just strikes me as out of whack.”

Sen. Jeremy Cooney: “Well it’s certainly different from the rest of the state.”

Berkeley Brean: “Are you going to bring this up when you talk to the commissioner?”

Sen. Jeremy Cooney: “I am. So we are going to make sure we are noting this specific location should be flagged for review and if there’s an opportunity, even if it doesn’t say so in their regulations to do more signage, to give drivers the warning that they should be slowing down.”

The transportation commissioner will testify in front of Senator Cooney and a panel of lawmakers in January.

Cooney also promised that he’s going to start a conversation about using that same automated speed detection technology at red lights and stop signs.

The City of Rochester had red light cameras before. But in 2016, former Mayor Lovely Warren pulled them because it was mostly ticketed people who couldn’t afford the ticket and they didn’t exist at intersections in the suburbs.

Berkeley Brean: “Are you talking about bringing cameras back to intersections and stop signs?”

Sen. Jeremy Cooney: “Well we need to hear from the community first. I’m not going to make that decision on behalf of our neighbors.”

“I mean we’ve all seen this since the pandemic. I drive around Rochester all the time. I see people driving through red lights at a higher rate of speed than I did five years ago,” Cooney said. “So when the former mayor decided to end that program it was a very different environment than it is in 2024.”

New York City expanded its red light program. Albany started a photo radar system in school zones and ticketed 13,000 drivers in three weeks. In the Rochester plan to have no traffic accidents called “Vision Zero”, number 8 on the priority list is “Automated Traffic Enforcement” to “Lower speeds, reduce serious crashes and save lives.”

“If other communities are having these conversations, Rochester should be having this conversation as well,” Cooney said.

City Hall provided this statement on Monday: An assessment of technology available for automated traffic enforcement is one of 10 priority actions identified in the City’s ROC Vision Zero initiative. Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries while promoting safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all. Rochester is the second city in New York State and among more than 50 communities nationwide to adopt a Vision Zero plan.

Other cities have used automated enforcement technology to help reduce vehicle speeds, which are a major factor in traffic crash severity. The City plans to assess new technology for automated enforcement and determine whether it may be applicable in our community. The City has not requested any state legislation for automated enforcement at this time, pending its assessment.

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