Speed Cameras Bill Won't Advance In 2020 Session

Legislation to allow speed cameras in Indiana highway work zones is dead.

Its author opted not to bring the bill up for a vote in the Senate on the chamber’s mid-session deadline day.

The bill would have created a pilot program – speed cameras in four work zones statewide. Tickets would only have been issued if a driver was caught going 11 miles per hour over the limit while workers were present.

But Sen. Jon Ford (R-Terre Haute) didn’t call the bill down for a vote.

“Just didn’t have the votes," Ford says. "Decided to hold it and not to have a big floor debate over it.”

Ford says there are concerns about privacy, whether the penalties should be civil or criminal, and how the cameras would photograph vehicles.

“You know, it’s a big issue with a lot of technology and I think we’re a little slow to technology here in the General Assembly,” Ford says.

Ford says he plans to bring the bill back next year.

Contact Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.