BALTIMORE — If you cross Belair Road on foot, you do so at your own risk.
Four people have lost their lives here in the month of November alone, including a Maryland delegate’s family member.
“We had a couple of others who passed away, but then it was my cousin, Vernon Miller, who was crossing Chesterfield and he was hit by a car as well so it became very personal to me,” said Delegate Jackie Addison.
And to the people who live and work along the road as well.
“They be flying. Just flying. It makes no sense,” said Butch Holmes who owns the Hair Warehouse just across the street from where Miller was killed, “Me, personally? I’ve had automobiles in my window. Come through the barber shop window. A van. I’ve also had another one where a car hit the trash can that used to be there and went through my church window.”
In a bid to put the brakes on motorists, city transportation workers are installing additional speed cameras and red light cameras at key intersections along the corridor, including two of them near a pair of schools.
A look at how speed cameras reduce speeding
“They don’t even stop for the bus. Trust me,” said Holmes, “I’ve seen 15, 20 cars passing the buses in the lane letting the kids off. I’m out here every day. I’ve been here 25 years like I said.”
In the long term, the city transportation department also wants to look into whether it should conduct a study to see if it should drop the speed limit here from 30 miles per hour to just 25 miles per hour.
It’s a comprehensive approach to the problem, although critics say hitting drivers hard in their pocketbooks would prove to be far more effective.
“Well, if they don’t care about 30, what would make your think they’re going to care about 25?” asked Holmes, “It doesn’t make sense."
The new speed cameras are scheduled to become activated in a few weeks, while the red light cameras will follow shortly thereafter.
