New Statewide Coalition Supports Red Light Cameras: Missouri Families for Safer Roads

(Hazelwood, Missouri) – Missouri Families for Safer Roads, a new statewide coalition led by advocates for traffic safety, will educate Missouri leaders and citizens about the proven effectiveness of red light cameras in raising driver awareness, reducing crashes and saving lives.

“Our mission is to increase public awareness across Missouri about red-light running crashes. We support the use of life saving traffic enforcement tools such as red light cameras,” said Bill McKenna, a founding director of Missouri Families for Safer Roads, former chair of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission and a former state legislator from Jefferson County. McKenna spoke Tuesday during the St. Louis area kickoff for the coalition, a group which is in formation statewide and is signing up new members from across Missouri.

“In these hurried times — when it seems everything has to happen “now” — drivers’ attention is often diverted from watching the road and fellow motorists. These cameras remind busy drivers to pay closer attention as they are approaching dangerous intersections,” McKenna said. “It comes down to public awareness and education – which will be two key missions of our statewide coalition.”

Missouri Families for Safer Roads is a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition. Its founding leaders were introduced during a news conference on Tuesday at the Hazelwood Government Center in St. Louis County. In addition to McKenna, the founding directors are Hazelwood Police Chief Carl Wolf and Country Club Hills Police Chief Clifton Ware.

Some of the members attending the St. Louis kickoff news conference included: Max Starkloff, a nationally recognized disability rights activist from St. Louis and founder of the advocacy group Paraquad; Sue Orton, a board member of the Missouri Brain Injury Association; Meghan Carter, executive director of the Gateway Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, St. Louis City Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson, along with law enforcement and public safety officials from St. Louis City and St. Louis County, and Jefferson County Sheriff Oliver “Glenn” Boyer. Other members from around Missouri include R. Dale Findley of Jefferson City, long-time executive director of the Missouri Safety Council, Police Chief Herb Soule of Sugar Creek and Police Chief Robert Muenz of Oak Grove in western Missouri.

The coalition paid tribute to another of its honorary founding co-chairs, Kathy Tremeear, whose 10-year-old daughter, Kayla Tremeear, died after the van in which she was riding was struck by a red light runner in Arnold, Missouri, just after Christmas 2002. Kayla’s story and her mother’s commitment to red light camera enforcement are featured in a video presentation at www.MoSaferRoads.com, where visitors may join the coalition and support Missouri Families for Safer Roads.

Chief Wolf noted that nearly 30 Missouri municipalities are successfully using red light cameras to strengthen traffic enforcement, and more are considering using the cameras. In Hazelwood, for example, red light running citations have declined by more than half (53 percent) since cameras were installed, as motorist awareness grows.

“We are among the growing number of Missouri communities using red light cameras – as just one of several tools — to enforce laws, raise awareness of safe driving practices and cut down on crashes and fatalities,” Chief Wolf said.

Chief Wolf added that he and his colleagues have compiled an educational video presentation of Missouri’s Top Ten Most Dangerous Red Light Runners of 2008. The chiefs invite motorists to watch this startling video at www.MoSaferRoads.com to see for themselves the graphic dangers of running red lights, and the need for these proven traffic safety enforcement tools.

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