KCMO to start traffic signal camera program

According to a KCStar article:

Red-light cameras rolled closer to reality Wednesday as a Kansas City Council committee gave city staff the go-ahead to seek vendor proposals.

The request for proposals should appear this week on www.kcmo.org, and will be mailed to major vendors, Assistant City Manager John Franklin said. The city will probably seek responses within three weeks and choose a vendor by the end of the year. . . .

Next year, Kansas City expects to join St. Louis, Sugar Creek and a handful of other Missouri cities that photograph vehicles running red lights. The City Council has said it hopes the program will reduce accidents, but council members have emphasized that they want to proceed methodically, periodically reviewing legal and technical issues and using the cameras only as part of a comprehensive public safety program.

If this could be the first step in a comprehensive drive to educate KC drivers and actually enforce traffic laws it could go a long ways to making KC's streets safer for everyone.

We'll see.